The Next Crusade
by MASC
Summary: COMPLETE! After the 2nd movie. Sakura and Li are finally together but an enemy from Clow Reed's past threatens their very existence. Now, Sakura must build an army and face off against this Dark Lord and his minions.
1. Of Kisses & Weenie Men

CARD CAPTOR SAKURA

THE NEXT CRUSADE

_**NOTE:**_

_**This will eventually become a songfic in later chapters. Songs will either be used to describe a certain situation, a person's feelings or be performed by some of the characters in a nonsensical kind of way. Also, there will be some film references put in. See if you can spot 'em.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: **_

_**Card Captor Sakura and all related characters are not my mine so don't come hassling me late in the night when you corporate types can't get any action in the bedroom, prompting you to come after me in retaliation. I mean, really, if you want to impress her, why don't you pick up the bill at dinner once in a while? Maybe it's your cologne or that--oh, crap. I did it again. Sorry. On with the story...**_

CHAPTER ONE

PROLOGUE

It was dark in the tomb. For centuries, no man had ever step foot into it. Not since the great battle that took place there long before the Card Mistress was born. The silence that filled the air was, for a time, preceded by screams of pain and threats of violence.

Clow Reed saw to it that this menacing Dark Lord would never see the light of day again and that all the damage he had done would soon be set right. The evil one's followers were hunted down by Clow Reed's own and were persecuted for treachery. The army had suddenly vanished but Clow Reed knew its existence was tied in to the dark one who commanded it.

Clow Reed respected and cherished all forms of life. It was for this reason that Clow Reed could never bring himself to take one of those lives and carry it on his conscience. He had no choice but to seal the menacing warlord into a tomb and spellbind the area so that as the years passed, his magic would grow weaker and weaker.

Once the evil one's magic had been fully depleted, he turned into a mere shadow of himself. A shadow of stone. An expressionless still figure crouched onto the floor with its head looking down. As if it knew all along that defeat awaited him. He had paid for his crimes against not only humanity but against everything that ever represented the pure essence of good.

The Dark Lord was history. But history often has a habit of repeating itself. Intentionally or unintentionally. The sins of one man were about to return full circle and pick up where he left off. The tomb would be quiet no more.

AND NOW... ON WITH THE STORY!

One day, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer stepped out to play with his friends and was shocked to see a wasteland of dead elves. Some were bloodied, some were incinerated and some were even stitched together while they were still alive. Rudolph searched for Frosty the snowman to see if he was okay but all he saw was a dismembered head coughing up bits of shaved ice.

"Frosty!" cried Rudolph. The snowman coughed his last cough as his two coal eyes rolled off the head, indicating his departure from life. Just then, Rudolph heard a click and turned to see an angry Santa Claus pointing a rifle at him in a drunken rage.

"Santa! Why are you doing this?" asked the reindeer. The jolly man gave no response as he hacked up some phlegm, spat on the ground and pulled the trigger. Before the bullet could hit him, Rudolph--

NO! NOT THAT STORY! THE OTHER ONE!

Oh. Sorry. I thought something was wrong. I was right. Oh well. The less said the better, I suppose. Anyway...

It had been one year exactly since the Void card was put back into its card form. One year since Sakura and her friends performed on a stage in front everyone in Tomoeda. One year since she finally confessed her love to the boy she truly loved.

School was out and Sakura and Li were able to spend more time with each other now. Tomoyo was more than happy to film her two best friends everywhere they went, despite their constant pleas for what Kero jokingly referred to as some "seriously major alone time". Sure, the two former card captors were happy together but there was still something unsettling on Sakura's mind.

"You haven't had your what!?" a surprised Tomoyo asked.

"Our first kiss", Sakura answered with an almost shy look on her face. The two were sitting down on a bench somewhere in the park. Li was at home recuperating from a severe beating he took from a man dressed in a weenie costume. The injuries he sustained were more mental than they were physical. But we'll get to that story later.

Tomoyo shook her head as she tried to come up with some kind of response to her best friend's humorous dilemma. "I really don't know what to say", she started. "Maybe you two should slow down a bit."

"It's been a year. How much slower do we need to go!?" Sakura griped.

Tomoyo suddenly came to the realization and nodded with agreement. "You're right. Has he tried anything?"

Sakura thought for a moment. "I don't think so. Maybe."

Tomoyo tried jogging her friend's memory. "Has he ever leaned in close to your face? Closer than usual, maybe?"

Sakura shook her head. "No. Oh, wait! There was that one time when there was that bee buzzing around and it landed on my nose. I was too scared to move so Li slowly came closer to me and--"

"And he tried to kiss you! Am I right?" Tomoyo interrupted.

Sakura shook her head and giggled. "No. He just waved his hand around and got stung instead."

Tomoyo nodded and smiled. "Oh."

Sakura suddenly looked confused and wondered, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I just figured that if Li tried kissing you without making it seem so obvious, it would mean that he wants to do it too. Almost as much as you do" Tomoyo explained. "I mean, what good is it being boyfriend and girlfriend to each other if you're not getting to the good part?"

"It's only kissing." Sakura said. "How big of a deal can it possibly be?"

In Li's room Kero was rolling around on the bed in hysterics, laughing, whooping and hollering at Li's own expense. The former card captor laid on his back with an ice pack to his groin as the yellow stuffed animal continued to be a constant thorn in the boy's side.

"Okay, let me get this straight..." The doll started. "You and Sakura have been together for how long?"

"One year." The boy grumbled.

"And you haven't even had your first kiss!? Man, that's pathetic!" The doll continued to laugh, slamming his nearly weightless fist(?) on the bed. He then continued, "And now you're telling me some moron in a weenie costume beat you up? Oh, how the mighty have fallen!" Once again, the seemingly harmless guardian of the sun burst into another fit of laughter.

Li was in too much of a traumatic shock to deal with the annoying doll's wit. He knew deep down that the weenie man hadn't seen the last of him and that a personal grudge had now been bestowed.

Kero, having finally caught his breath, slowly climbed on Li's chest and looked at him right in the face. "Okay, so tell me why you haven't done the simplest of things anyone can do in a serious relationship" he said.

Li thought for a minute but wasn't sure if there was a way to describe it for someone like Kero to comprehend. He sighed and decided to explain to the best of his ability.

"It's like this", he started, "I love Sakura more than words can say. I love her so much that I don't want to break her trust in me by making her do something she's not comfortable with. I want her to know that I'm willing to take things slow."

Kero nodded, finally understanding Li's feelings on the matter. He then shook it off and explained it to Li again, "One year! Count it! One freaking year! If I had fingers, I'd point it out to you! You're pathetic! Your woman's gonna think you're a pansy! Is that what you want!? Huh!?"

Li thought for a minute and shook his head. "No. That's impossible. I'm sure Sakura isn't ready yet."

After a long and awkward silence Kero shouted again, "One year!"

"Oh, shut up!", Li shouted. "Why are you even here!?"

"Touya's been snooping around lately. I mean more than usual. I just don't want to get caught with my trousers down.", the doll said. "So I thought I'd crash at your place for a while." He started laughing again. "I don't know which is funnier. The fact that you and your girlfriend haven't smooched yet or that you got your butt kicked by a weenie man!"

As the doll rolled around in another fit of hysterics, Li growled under his breath, "Bastard."

In the woodland area of Tomoeda, the leaves in the trees and the grass on the fields were blowing gently with the wind. But the tranquility of the forest was soon interrupted by an unexpected earthquake, small yet powerful. The traffic on the city streets was forced to make an emergency stop as this act of nature continued its course. Sakura and Tomoyo felt a gentle rumble beneath their feet and looked around. "What was that?" the green eyed girl asked.

Moments later, Sakura rushed home and was relieved to see her father and brother sitting in the living room, watching the news on television. "Oh... you're okay..." she said, trying to catch her breath. "Good. I think I'll just... lie down or... something." And with that said she fell to the floor, exhausted.

Touya got up from the couch and looked down on his sister, nudging her with the tip of his shoe. "Hey. You dead, little girl?" he joked. Sakura motioned her brother to come closer. He shrugged and complied. "What's wrong?" he asked. In an instant, he felt her hand slap across his face. Their father just chuckled and went back to watching the news.

Hours later into the evening, work crews surrounded most of the rural areas, fixing nearby power boxes. The crews in the city were doing the exact same thing, only having to deal with more traffic and a lot of distraught people. One of the crews parked their truck in the middle of a field, near the service road, before a large pillar of rock and dirt sticking up from the ground. Five men got out of the vehicle and began examining the strange object.

"What the hell is this?" one man asked, running his hand down the smooth, rocky surface.

"Is this where the reading came from?" another asked.

The head worker shook his head as he looked around. "No, this can't be right. There's nothing out here. No power boxes, no houses, no people. It doesn't make any sense."

Creeping around the pillar was an almost invisible cloud of mist. It moved with a mind of its own and surrounded the five men, rising up to the ground and impairing their vision. They began to panic as the mist started to crackle bits of light and spoke to them in a low, raspy voice.

"Did it just say something?" asked a crew member.

More flashes of light crackled within the cloud as the voice was heard again. "_Homens do dado mundial novo para seus pecados." _The five men soon felt their skin burning off as more and more flashes sparked. The voice crept again, "Your lives are a necessary loss. I will make your deaths as quickly as possible."

The men screamed in pain, unable to stop their flesh burning off the bone. They fell to the floor and accepted their painful fates as a final spark of lightning finished the job. After the screams stopped, the mist vanished back into the rock pillar. The large structure then cracked down the middle and shattered into several pieces. The dark mist then shrouded itself around a crouched figure of cold stone and entered through its chest.

After a few moments, the figure began to glow a bright light, which filled the night sky. A man, looking no older than 30, stepped out of his rock prison and looked down on five black skeletons with a bit of smoke clearing away. He grinned as he detached one of the skulls from its neck and gazed deep into the emotionless face.

"Humans. So vulnerable." The man said as he crushed the entire skull with his bare hand and wiped the ash off with the long, black cape that draped down his back. The man's black suit was almost as dark as the night itself but it was obvious his heart was even darker. He walked off into the woods with an agenda now on his mind: to rebuild his army and finish what he started. Faust the Dark Lord had returned.


	2. Dark Force Rising

CHAPTER TWO

Sakura laid on her bed, speaking to Li over the telephone that very night. Kero was back home in Sakura's room, flipping through the pages of Fascist Dictator Monthly in the safety of his cubbyhole. He shuddered and rolled his eyes back at every cutesy remark Sakura and Li threw at each other. Unfortunately for him, being a guardian beast of the seal meant having an immense hearing capability, which also meant he had no choice but to listen in on their nightly ritual.

"If it goes on like this another year, I just might have a little run-in with the sewing machine." the doll said to himself. He was relived to hear Sakura shift the conversation towards something different.

"Did you feel that earthquake earlier today?" she asked over the phone.

"A bit. I don't think it was that bad. Traffic came to a stop but that's all I heard." Li answered from his room. He then thought about it for a second. "You don't think this had anything to do with..." Li paused and thought once more.

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

Li shook his head and chuckled. "No, never mind. I'm just not thinking clearly."

Sakura smiled with a curious look on her face then asked, "What were you going to say?"

Li hesitantly responded, "Well... For a moment I thought our old pal Eriol Hiiragizawa was up to no good again."

Sakura shook her head with a smile still on her face. "Oh, come on. He only did what he had to. Now I know you don't like him but that doesn't mean you don't trust him."

"Trust him? The bastard kept secrets from all of us, not to mention the biggest secret of them all!" Li reminded her. "I mean, think about it. He's practically my granddaddy! Polly don't like that cracker!" Li shuddered and made vomiting noises over the phone, prompting Sakura to laugh.

"He's not related to you in any way. Eriol was just a caretaker of Clow Reed's memory." Sakura explained.

"You mean he was storage space." Li joked.

Sakura nodded in agreement, "Yeah, pretty much."

"So I guess the earthquake was just an earthquake, huh? No strings attached?" Li wondered aloud.

Sakura nodded and reassured him, "Had to be. So you can stop worrying now."

"Who said I was worried? I was just looking for some action! Like the good old days!" Li was getting excited but caught himself before he did anything crazy.

Sakura yawned then spoke into the phone, "I better get to bed. I don't want to fall asleep during our picnic tomorrow."

Li agreed. "Yeah. You're right. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Okay. I love you." Sakura said as she blushed.

"I love you too." Li responded with an even redder face.

As they hung up their phones, Kero started slamming his head against the wall of his cubbyhole. "Why!? Why!? It's wrong, damn it! It's wrong!" the doll yelled.

Sakura giggled as she pulled the covers up and turned off the light. "Good night, Kero." She said as her little yellow friend continued to abuse himself.

In his bed, Li looked up to the ceiling with a warm smile on his face. He was glad to have Sakura in his life but the pressure of kissing her was all too much for him. _Should I or shouldn't I?, _was all he thought. It was a simple gesture of human affection. Everyone does it. But to hold it in for an entire year seemed to prove inhuman and abnormal to everyone he knew. Even himself.

Li sighed and shook his head. He had even more troubles on his mind. He got up from his bed and walked over to his dresser. He opened the top drawer and pulled out a small piece of yellow cloth and held it tightly in his fist.

"The weenie man..." he muttered to himself. After what happened earlier that day, Li swore vengeance and would not rest until the man behind the mask was revealed and brought down. But he'd have to rest that very night. Because you know... picnic. But more on the weenie story, as I said, later.

The next morning, Sakura was changing out of her pajamas in her closet as Kero sat on the bed, watching the news.

"This whole earthquake thing really got out of hand yesterday." Kero said.

"Do _you_ think something's behind it?" Sakura asked as she stepped out of her closet, dressed in a simple outfit, ready for the day.

"I don't know what to think." Kero shrugged. He then turned his attention to the newscaster, reporting on five missing men from the city's safety department. Kero suddenly felt a chill. "Hey, Sakura. Do you hear this?" 

Sakura listened as the words "Five men missing, presumed dead" came out of the anchorman's mouth. Sakura switched the TV off and looked down.

"People die in earthquakes, Kero. Not everyone can be so lucky." Sakura grimly said. "Still...", she continued, "I'm sure I could have done something about it."

Kero shook his head with a concerned look on his face. "There's nothing you could have done, Sakura. These things happen. You can't be everywhere."

Sakura nodded and tried to shrug off the uncomfortable feeling she now had. "I better go downstairs for breakfast. I'll bring you something back before I head out." She smiled and left the room.

Faust had made his way out of the forest and now stood atop a hill that looked down on the entire city. The wind gently blew his cape back as he glared across the field and noticed a small deer walking his way. The man stuck out his hand and welcomed the small animal as it came sniffing forward. The deer started licking Faust's hand as he smiled.

"Such a gentle creature." he said. And in an instant, the Dark Lord grabbed hold of the deer's neck and snapped it with ease. Faust dropped the dead animal to the floor and grinned. "Not to mention weak"

Later that day, Sakura and Li were enjoying the afternoon together in the park. They had just come back from the aquarium and were tired from all the walking. What better way to finish the day than by having a picnic on the grass with the one you love?

Whittling, for one thing. But that's just me. This story's about them. So I guess I'll go back to talking about them then. It's all so silly, really. I don't even know why I bother.

When they sat down to have their picnic, Sakura screamed when she opened the contents of her basket. Li immediately jumped up from the ground and hurried over to Sakura. "What is it? What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Look." Sakura said as she pulled out a very bloated Kero by his tail. The doll burped and nervously waved at Li, who was balling up his fist and shaking it firmly to his face.

"You... you stuffed animal, you... Can't talk... too angry..." was all the brown haired boy could say. Sakura giggled and hugged her boyfriend, calming him down immediately.

"Oh, don't get upset. It's Kero. What did you expect?" Sakura laughed as the doll went back into the basket. "Sorry. My bad." the yellow doll said. Li sighed and noticed he was practically face to face with Sakura, who still had her arms around him. A flurry of emotions and a rapid-fire heartbeat were all that was running through him at that moment. He realized it was now or never.

"Sakura?" he said. She didn't respond because she also had the same thing on her mind. Their eyes peered deep into each other's for a moment when they suddenly leaned in for their first kiss. Didn't happen, though! Nope! Nuh-uh! Nothing! You know why? Because at that moment, the sky darkened with the sound of thunder looming above them. The city was covered with darkness as another rain cloud came their way, interrupting what would have been a potential first kiss. Ooh, I'm an ass!

Faust had used his magic to call forth his minions. Five cloaked men with blood-red masks appeared from within five different bolts of lightning. A dark aura surrounded the men as they all bowed down before their master. The sky was getting darker and the thunder even louder.

"Welcome, old friends." the Dark Lord said. "How long has it been? One hundred years? Two hundred? More than that, perhaps? No matter. A lot has changed since last we met. New countries have formed, old empires have fallen, entire civilizations wiped out. But perhaps the biggest change of all would be the death of our old nemesis: Clow Reed. He is no more. It's almost funny to think that I outlived him only because of his sheer stupidity and relentless attitude towards living things. Had he not been so stubborn, he could have eliminated me by the wave of his wand. Then again, maybe not. It sickens me to know that old age took the life of my greatest rival and not me."

One of the masked men stepped forward and shook his master's hand. "It's good to see you again, master." he said. "We knew you were still alive. We never gave up hope."

Faust snapped at him. "And it took you this long to find me?"

Another cloaked man pleaded with him. "Forgive us, master. When Clow Reed renounced his immortality, we thought it would be best to go into hiding and wait it out. He was so sure that he had gotten all of us."

Faust nodded and paced around the five men. "I know it must have been hard to keep a public face for so long without my wisdom to guide you. But all of that's about to change. Clow Reed imprisoned my army and I say it's time we got it back and finish what we started." He thought for a minute. "Which one of you caused the earthquake?" he asked.

A shorter man in a cloak stepped forward and bowed before Faust. The Dark Lord put his hand on the man's shoulder and smiled at him. "Ingenious." the Dark Lord said.

"What is your first order, my master?" the mysterious, young hood asked.

Faust formed a small blaze of fire into his hand and replied, "I think it's time the world knew I was back."

Back at the park, Sakura and Li were hurrying through the rain as it began to fall. Just then, several beams of light shot down from the sky and exploded upon impact with the ground. Sakura and Li looked back and noticed several holes in the ground with smoke coming out.

"What was that?" she asked. She then looked up to see five shadowy figures gliding around the sky. Kero flew out of the basket and felt another strange chill. "I don't like this." he said as another swarm of beams shot down.

Sakura grew impatient and took out her key. "All right, that's it!" After unleashing her staff, she then activated the Shield card. The magic dome protected Sakura and Li from the wailing energy blasts.

"What's going on!?" a frustrated Li asked, knowing an answer wouldn't be given to him.

Sakura pointed out to the five figures in the sky as they circled around them. "Up there in the sky. Do you see them?"

Li nodded, "Yeah. I do."

Sakura took out another card and said, "I've got an idea." She unleashed the power of the Shot card to shoot down the five but to no avail. They disappeared within an instant along with all the energy beams.

"Something's definitely not right." Sakura muttered to Li and Kero as they hurried back home.


	3. An Unexpected Visit

CHAPTER THREE

The next morning found Sakura and her friends sitting in the living room of her house. Her father had left early for work and Touya was out with Yukito. Sakura got up and looked out the window, puzzled by the sudden change in the weather. Yesterday's storm left her believing that today would be much the same.

"If Eriol isn't behind it, who is?" Sakura asked. Tomoyo and Li shrugged then looked over to Kero, who was busy crawling around in a plate of cookies.

"Who needs baths when you've got cookies?" the doll sighed with pleasure. He then noticed everyone staring at him. "What? Why's everyone looking at me? Stop it."

"Kero, this is serious." Sakura said. "We've got a real threat on our hands and we need to find the source."

"Well sitting around here isn't gonna get much work done, is it?" Kero shot back.

Sakura nodded and replied, "I know, I know. I just don't want to rush into anything without knowing what we're dealing with." The doll flew over to her shoulder as she sighed. "Now you're sure you don't have any idea what's behind it all?" Sakura asked.

Kero hesitated then said, "I have a theory. But it doesn't check out." 

"How can you be sure?" Li asked. "We need every clue we can get."

Kero started, "It's a bit complicated. I really don't expect you to understand much." He then paused and thought for a moment. "It all involves an enemy from Clow Reed's past."

Sakura looked puzzled. "Enemy?" She questioned.

"Clow Reed had loads of them back in the day. But the one I'm thinking of is the worst one of all. He's the one who turned Clow Reed's old girlfriend over to the dark side of magic." Kero explained.

"You mean..." Sakura started to remember her encounter with the mysterious woman from her trip in Hong Kong. ( For those of you who don't remember, it's in the 1st movie. Duh! Jesus, do your research! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I had a bad day and I didn't mean to snap at you. Forgive me? Please? So sorry.)

Kero finished the sentence for Sakura. "That's right. It wasn't exactly voluntary. Faust gave her a choice. And she made it."

"His name is Faust?" Tomoyo asked.

Kero nodded but shook off any suspicion of the Dark Lord. "Look, that was a long time ago. Clow Reed took care of that guy and he hasn't been heard from since."

"Then why did you suspect him?" Li wondered aloud.

Kero looked out the window and up at the sky. "Because of how Sakura described the shadowy figures in the rain storm. That's definitely the calling card of the Dark Lord himself. But it can't be."

"We all thought Clow Reed could never come back and look what happened." Sakura remembered. "Anything's possible, Kero."

"That's what I'm afraid of." the doll shivered.

Li spoke again, "All right, so let's say it _is_ this Faust guy. So what? Sakura can take him."

Kero and Sakura exchanged glances, leaving Li a bit doubtful himself. "Right?" he asked.

The doll shrugged and said, "I don't know. I have faith in Sakura but if we _are_ dealing with the real thing, we're gonna need more than that."

"Like what?" Sakura asked.

Before Kero could answer, there was a knock at the door. "Don't worry. I'll get it." Said Li. He approached the front door, opened it and was surprised to see Eriol Hiirgizawa standing outside.

"Hello, Li." The blue-eyed boy said with a grin.

Li ignored this and shut the door on his face. He then returned to the living room with his friends.

"Who was it?" Tomoyo asked.

"Mormon, I think." Li responded as he headed for the bathroom. Just then, another knock was heard. This time Sakura answered and was surprised to see Eriol.

"Eriol? What are you doing here?" she asked as she gave him a friendly hug.

Kero couldn't believe his eyes either. "It's you again! What do you want with us!? Go away! Please!"

"Oh, hush up. I'm not here to harm anyone. I've come on business. And seeing as I've no tests for Sakura to endure, I decided there was no need for seclusion." He responded. He then noticed Tomoyo approaching him, who also gave him a hug much to his joy. (Oh yeah. I'm going there all right. Later. _Later_…)

"Glad to see you're not putting people to sleep this time." She joked as Eriol nervously giggled.

"So what kind of business are you on?" Sakura cut to the chase.

"It's a matter of world security, Sakura. I fear something ancient has been restored to power and unless we act now, the world will no longer be safe for anyone." Eriol said to Sakura with a serious look on his face.

"You mean Faust." Sakura said.

Eriol nodded as Li returned to the living room and saw his "nemesis" standing in the middle of the living room.

"You! I told you to leave!" Li shouted as he tackled the limey to the floor. He started choking him and banging his head on the carpet but poor Eriol couldn't fight back. The girls tried separating them but they were interrupted when Touya and Yukito arrived.

"What's going on?" Touya asked when he suddenly noticed a certain brown-haired boy maliciously choking a blue-eyed magician. "Hey! I told you to stay away from my sister!" Touya screamed as he charged towards Li and put his hands around his neck.

Sakura, Tomoyo, Kero and Yukito just stood there, staring at the human choking chain of childishness (Yeah, try saying _that_ 3 times fast). "So…" Sakura started. "What's up?"

Yuki shrugged. "Not much."

They stood there again, quiet and waiting for the three to stop their bickering. Yuki took out a doughnut from his pocket and starting eating.

Sakura looked disgusted. "In your pocket? Really?"

Hours later, after the three exhausted themselves, Eriol was able to explain his situation to Sakura. "There is a meeting that takes place every year for those in the field of magic. Those who have made a name for themselves, those who are barely learning or those who are simply curious about it."

"Wow." A surprised Sakura muttered.

"You didn't think we were the only ones, did you?" Eriol grinned. "They come together to talk of many things, mostly about world events that may affect _their_ world. I'm going again this year and I would like for you to come with me, Sakura."

Sakura looked confused. "Me? Why me?"

"Not just you. Li and Yukito as well." Eriol continued.

Yuki shook his head and lied back on the couch. "Nope. Not interested."

"But it's Yue we'll need." Eriol pleaded.

"Oh yeah? What about _my_ needs, huh!? What about _me_!?" A frustrated Yuki shouted as he ran upstairs, unwrapping a candy bar and sobbing like a baby.

"Why did he go into my room? I hate it when he leaves trash under my bed." Touya asked as he reluctantly followed.

"Listen, Sakura," Eriol started again "If we can bring up the subject of Faust to these people, they may be able to provide us with some information."

"Information about what?" Sakura was trying to understand. "How to stop him? You've done that be--I mean Clow Reed. Clow Reed did that before."

"But it must be done again. This time he may be more powerful than ever." Eriol sighed. "The thing about Clow Reed was that he found every form of life sacred. No matter how dark and twisted it may have been, he wouldn't do a thing to deprive it of its life."

"So this guy didn't come back from the dead." Li said. "Clow Reed let him live. Is that it?"

Eriol nodded and explained. "He cast him away into a tomb beneath the earth, where no one could find him."

"But someone _did_ find him and he set the bastard free." Kero groaned.

Eriol stroked the doll's back and looked over to Sakura again. "And unless I'm mistaken, he's going to rebuild his army and finish what he started."

"And what's that?" Sakura asked him.

"The destruction of mankind." Eriol answered.

In an attempt to ease the tension and change the subject, Tomoyo switched on the television set and kept her eyes focused on it.

"What are you doing?" Kero asked her.

"Shh. TV. No talking." Was all she said.

The afternoon movie was playing as a man's voice announced "And now we return to our afternoon feature: Blue's Clues 3: Blood On The Paw, starring Charlton Heston as the voice of Blue."

The television displayed the cartoon world of Nick Jr.'s most beloved icon as a wasteland of destruction, filled with burned down buildings and lingering streams of fire. A scarred and bitter Blue, decked out with ammo, chased after his old friend Magenta and shot both his kneecaps in. Magenta fell to the floor and, speaking in a German accent, shouted "Ach! Blue, you schweinhund!"

The deep voice of Charlton Heston that boomed through Blue's mouth said, "It's over, Magenta. You've lost."

Magenta coughed and struggled to get up. "Help me up at least! Give me my dignity!"

Blue shook his head and cocked his gun. "No dice. You stay right where you are."

"What?" A traumatized Magenta barked.

Blue took out a cigar and placed it in his mouth as he explained, "It's like I told that bar of soap in the shower before I blew his ass away with a Colt .47. 'I don't bend over for anyone.'"

Tomoyo couldn't help but grin at the movie as she slowly got sucked into its absurdity. Eriol noticed her smile and couldn't help but blush. Sakura shook her head and spoke with him again.

"And you're positive someone at that meeting might be able to help us?" She asked.

Eriol nodded. "Oh yes."

Sakura looked over to Li. "Well? What do you think we should do?"

Li shrugged. "Whatever you think. I'm right behind you all the way."

She smiled and faced Eriol again. "Okay. We're in. Where's this meeting at?"


	4. The Gathering

CHAPTER FOUR

Somewhere in London, a gathering was beginning to take place inside an old cathedral. Two men stood outside the entrance and greeted the various magicians who walked past them. Sakura, Li, Tomoyo and Kero followed Eriol as he led them through the city streets.

"Where are we going?" Sakura asked.

"I already told you. The meeting starts in a few minutes. We can't be late." Eriol responded.

"So your dad just _let_ you come all the way to England?" Li asked.

Sakura nodded. "Not exactly. I didn't even tell him, really."

"You didn't?" a surprised Tomoyo asked.

"No. I just left the Mirror card behind." Sakura said as everyone paused in the middle of the sidewalk and looked at her. She giggled nervously as she tried to explain.

"Well… I… you see…" she stammered but nothing could come out.

Tomoyo suddenly went into a panic. "Sakura, my mom knows I'm here! And I told her that you were coming too! I thought we were sticking to our plan! What happened? Why didn't you tell me? What do I do? Where do we go? Will we run away? Will we…"

Li grabbed Tomoyo by her shoulders and tried to calm her down, shaking her like a rag doll. "Hey, hey, hey! Calm down! Everything's going to be okay! Just relax!"

"It's kind of hard to relax when you're shaking me like a man with Parkinson's!" she shouted. Li noticed what he was doing and let her go. "Oh. Sorry." He said.

Sakura sighed and finally managed to explain. "Look, I took care of everything. You don't think I'd come all the way here without planning things ahead, do you? Trust me. They won't suspect a thing."

Tomoyo nodded and smiled at her friend. "Yeah. You're right."

Eriol blushed once again at Tomoyo's gorgeous face but shook it off, desperately trying to get things back on track. "Are we all set now? Can we go, please? Thank you."

They all nodded and continued walking down the sidewalk as Kero poked his head out fom Tomoyo's bag and looked around. "I don't get what's so special about this place. They drink tea. _We _drink tea. They were in a war. We were in the _same_ war. They got tall buildings. _We_ got tall buildings. No change, man. No change. I should have just stayed home."

Tomoyo could hear Kero's rant and looked down on her bag. "Who are you talking to?"

Kero tucked his head back in. "No one."

Inside the cathedral, hundreds and hundreds of people were sitting around and socializing as Sakura and her friends arrived. They were all amazed at the different kinds of people that showed up. Sakura noticed several hanging around, who for some reason struck her as important.

One man, somewhere in his mid thirties with brown hair and wearing a simple shirt and tie, nervously looked around and kept his hand firmly on the trunk he brought with him. The trunk was big, black and on the side had huge letters that read: MARVIN THE MAGNIFICENT.

Sakura then noticed another magician, one who looked very familiar. One who looked like someone she saw on the television recently. He was about as old as Marvin the Magnificent but had a certain ruggedness to him. He was well built and wore a skintight black sweater.

A girl, a bit older than Sakura, also caught her attention. She walked around in a simple matching blue outfit, her long blond hair hanging down her back. For some reason, Sakura felt a strange connection to all of them. Possibly because of their magic abilities.

"That's a lot of people." Sakura said as she took a seat.

Eriol nodded and grinned. "It gets bigger every year."

Tomoyo pointed out to someone in the crowd, excited and surprised at the same time. "Hey, look who it is!"

Sakura turned her head and was surprised to see her old teacher, Kaho Mizuki and Eriol's moon guaridian, Nakuru, approaching them. 

"You made it." Eriol said as he greeted the two.

"You know I wouldn't miss it, Eriol." Kaho said. She then turned to her old students and smiled at them. "Hello, Sakura. It's good to see you again."

Sakura smiled back and nodded. "You too."

Kaho noticed Sakura holding onto Li's hand and grinned. "Oh, so you two finally got together? Well, I knew it was just a matter of time."

Nakuru looked around and asked Sakura, "Hey, where's your brother?"

"He didn't come." Sakura said. "And anyway, I don't think he's too fond of you the way you are to _him_."

Nakuru shook her head in an aggravated manner. "No, it's not that! The bastard still owes me money! Excuse me, I have to make a phone call!" She ran off as an old man in a suit and tie approached the altar.

"Who's that?" Sakura asked Eriol.

The blue-eyed boy looked up at the old man and explained. "That would be Mr. James Elliot Graham. He's the one who funds these meetings, making sure he gets as much people to attend as possible. He even flies in some of his own men from the farthest of countries when it's absolutely imperative."

"His own men?" Sakura asked.

"Mr. Graham runs an accountancy firm but also studies magic on his spare time. He has a few men trained to assist him whenever necessary. Luckily, it's never come to that." Eriol waved his hand at the old man as he gathered everyone's attention.

Mr. Graham spoke with a deep British accent and clarity rarely found in old people. Because you know how they like to slobber and slur their words! I mean, just because you don't have teeth doesn't mean you can go around wetting everything! That's how mildew starts, man! It's nasty! But Mr. Graham spoke clearly. End of story. I mean not _this_ story. But… oh, God. Just keep reading.

"Welcome, everyone. I trust all is well in your own backyard." Mr. Graham said with a cheeky grin.

Tomoyo nudged Sakura and whispered, "Yeah, if you like potholes the size of pickup trucks."

"This year we will bring up the discussion we left open from our last meeting: Whether or not to expose our world to the rest of humanity in the name of good. To use our abilities for those who need help. I'll open the floor to any comments or suggestions." Graham pointed out to a young man in a black coat. "Yes?"

The young man stood up from his seat and addressed everyone. His short blond hair and sapphire blue eyes immediately caught Tomoyo's attention, much to Eriol's horror. "I think we shouldn't have to worry about this so-called 'exposing' ourselves. I mean, few of the people who come to these meetings are regular blokes anyway. If there comes a time when we have to use our magic in front of the general public then I say we do it, no questions asked. Let the rest of them judge us anyway they want." The boy said in his charming Irish accent.

Tomoyo couldn't take her eyes off the boy even when Li tried snapping his fingers back and forth, trying to break the trance. No use. "Damn. She's glued." He muttered. He then noticed Kero sitting on Kaho's lap, whispering something to her and making quick glances at him. "Hey, what are you talking about?" Li asked.

"Nothing." Kero said as he went back to whispering to her. Kaho giggled and shook her head. Li watched on as he tried to understand what they were saying.

"One year!?" Kaho blurted out as everyone in the church turned their attention to them.

Eriol got up and tried to change the subject. "There's something I'd like to say."

"Yes, Mr. Hiiragizawa?" Graham said. "What is it?"

Eriol took a deep breath and spoke. "I'm sure you're all aware of the legend of Faust, alchemist and Black Magic practitioner."

Graham and the others nodded as Eriol continued. "I have reason to believe the Dark Lord has returned to power and is ready to carry out his army to pick up the pieces and finish the job."

Graham shook his head as everyone in the room started to whisper amongst themselves. "Mr. Hiiragizawa, are you suggesting that a man who has been dead for centuries has somehow come back to life and is ready to start a war?"

Eriol shook his head. "No, sir. He never died. Clow Reed spared his life and imprisoned him in a tomb. A tomb that, until a few days ago, was thought to have been untraceable. I have seen the signs, sir. He's back."

"And what signs would those be?" Graham asked in that pompous way old people do when they think they're right and you're wrong because you're young and don't know any better. You ever feel like that? Sucks, don't it?

Eriol motioned Sakura to get up. She looked at everyone and tried to help Eriol with his cause. "My name is Sakura Kinomoto. I live in Japan. A few days ago an earthquake set forth a series of events that I thought were just coincidental. But they weren't."

"Young lady, how do you even know who Faust is?" The old man questioned.

Sakura took out her magic key and showed it to him. "I'm the keeper of the magic book that once belonged to Clow Reed. And I have in my possession all of the cards that obeyed him. I am the card captor."

Everyone in the room was surprised by Sakura's revelation and continued to chat amongst each other. Eriol looked over to Kaho. "Kaho. The folder, please."

The teacher handed Eriol a manilla folder as the Irish boy sat back down and noticed Tomoyo glaring at him. Tomoyo immediately caught herself and quickly looked away, blushing.

Eriol took a few photos out of the folder and handed them to the old man. He went over them and was confused at what he saw. "I don't understand." He grumbled under his breath.

Eriol took the photos and waved them in front of everyone. "These are satellite images taken the day after the earthquake. Tomoeda was attacked by a swarm of demonic beings linked to the Dark Lord. If you look closely, they formed a burning image of Faust's symbol."

"Allow me." The blond girl in the blue outfit said as she got up from her seat. She took out a wand and chanted a phrase, wich caused a magic beam to shoot out against the picture. In a matter of seconds, the image projected itself from the flat surface of the photo and illuminated the entire room. Everyone gasped at the sight of Faust's legendary and menacing symbol: A demonic skull with razor sharp wings and horns arched upward.

"Oooohhh... Shit." Everyone in the room said in unison.

Just then, the two men guarding the entrance were sent flying through the windows of the old church, glass shattering everywhere. Everyone looked up to see several of Faust's cloaked minions swooping in, destroying everything in sight. Some of the magicians armed themselves and fought back while those who were defenseless either watched in horror or fled. Sakura unleashed her magic staff and caught the attention of the hooded men.

"That's her! That's the girl!" One of them said as they all came her way.

"Oh crap." Sakura said as she was suddenly picked up and taken away. The cloaked men flew off, carrying Sakura as her friends helplessly looked on.

Kero flew out of Tomoyo's bag and went after them. "Don't worry, Sakura! I'm-a coming!" He shouted as Li and the others stayed behind.

"We've got to do something!" Li said to Eriol, who couldn't grasp what had just happened. Li grabbed him by the shirt and started shaking him. "Hiiragizawa, do you hear me!?"

Eriol was speechless. "H-how… how did they know?" Was all he could say.

Frustrated, Li shoved Eriol and rapidly paced back and forth, trying to think of some way to get his beloved back. "Okay… Kero went after them. Maybe he'll scout the area and come back."

"Do you really think so?" Nakuru asked.

Li nodded and tried to hold back his tears of worry. "I trust him."

They all heard an explosion coming from outside. Everyone ran out and saw the city being terrorized as more and more people fled the streets, scared and in a panic. Some of the cloaked men were flying around, carving Faust's symbol into the ground using their Black Magic. Li summoned his sword and looked over to Eriol, who was still in a bit of a shock.

"We don't know where Sakura's going. But I bet you one of these guys do." Li said as he readied for battle.

Eriol nodded and unleashed his magic staff. The other magicians noticed this and all had mixed feelings about it. The television magician shrugged and walked away unconcerned as the Irish boy and the blond girl decided to go into battle as well. Even old Mr. Graham armed himself with a rather odd-looking wand and called forth his associates.

Nakuru transformed into her guardian form and charged her fists with a magic energy. "All right, kiddies! Let's go have some fun!"


	5. The Dark Lord Returns

CHAPTER FIVE

Sakura woke up to find herself chained to the wings of a demonic sculpture in the middle of a graveyard. She then noticed she was surrounded by several of the hooded men who attacked her before. She struggled to break free and looked down her chest to find her magic key until a voice said to her, "I'm afraid you won't find it on your person."

Sakura looked up and was shocked to see Faust grinning and dangling the key in front of him. The man threw his long black cape back over his shoulders and slowly walked towards the girl. He put his hand on her face and looked deep into her eyes, studying his enemy. "So this is the girl, is she?" He asked.

One of the cloaked men nodded as Faust let go of Sakura and turned his back. He shook his head in disbelief. "The way you described her, it would have seemed like she was more of a threat. But I see her chained to this grave, unable to break free and all it tells me is that she's weak. Clow Reed definitely misplaced his trust in this pathetic little girl."

As the conversation continued, Kero was spying on the group from behind a tombstone. He counted the figureheads, including Faust, and whispered to himself. "Oh, God. I'll be back, Sakura. I promise." And with that, the doll flew off in a desperate attempt to get help.

Outside the old cathedral, a small battle was taking place between the magicians and Faust's men. Li rolled along the ground, dodging several magic attacks and took out one of his magic ofuda. He pressed it along his sword and summoned an electric attack, frying three of the hooded men.

Meanwhile, Eriol was busy trying to protect the innocent and defenseless bystanders. As Nakuru went around flying and taking down some of Faust's men, Eriol ordered some of the public to find shelter. Tomoyo wouldn't budge and stayed close behind him scared and at the same time intrigued. Eriol rather liked this feeling but wanted her to get to safety. "Tomoyo, you have to get to safety." He told her.

She looked at him and shook her head. "But I want to be here with you and..." She noticed Eriol putting his arms on her shoulders and looking deep in her eyes.

"Please." He said in a low and concerned tone. In a matter of seconds, an explosion sent the both of them flying. As Tomoyo got up from the rubble, she noticed Eriol wasn't moving.

She started to shake him but he wouldn't wake up. Just then, she noticed one of the hooded men coming towards her and started to panic. "Hey, I like your cloak! You know, I think they've got a sale on designer cloaks in that store down there! Why don't you give it a try?"

The hooded man ignored her and raised his hand, charging it with an electric current. Before he could do anything, however, the Irish boy attacked him from behind with a fire attack. He helped Tomoyo up and smiled at her. "You're all right now, miss. You don't have to worry." He then noticed Eriol lying on the ground. "I should probably help your friend up."

Tomoyo was blushing immensely at the blond haired boy that she almost forgot about Eriol. She helped him get her friend back on his feet. When he came around, Eriol noticed the Irish boy's face and quickly set himself free from his grasp. "Thank you. That's enough of that." He said, frustrated that the Irishman was making a move on his woman.

The blond girl ran across the street and chanted something in Latin, which caused a magic dome to surround her and several of the injured magicians lying about. The blond girl helped another girl up, one who happened to be Japanese and wore a brown and tattered battle suit of some kind. "Are you all right, Suki?" The blond girl asked in her British accent.

"I'm all right. Thanks, Maya." The dark haired girl said. She then tightened her headband, rolled up her sleeves and stepped out of the magic dome. The Japanese girl, now known as Suki, spread her arms out, closed her eyes and chanted something. In an instant, a major electric attack brought down the remainder of the flying hoods.

Mr. Graham and his associates approached the street and looked around at all the destruction Faust's men had done. Nakuru landed back on the ground and transformed back into her disguise. Li put his sword away and noticed a few dead magicians lying around and looked down in despair. "Sakura." He said to himself.

Just then, Kero arrived on the scene, out of breath and out of direction as he crashed into a nearby trolley. Kaho rushed over and helped the doll up. "Kero? What happened? Where's Sakura?" She asked him.

Trying to catch his breath, Kero slowly explained. "She's at... the graveyard. A few miles from here. If we hurry... we can save her..."

Li immediately started running off until Eriol called out to him. "Wrong way!"

"Damn it!" Li said as he turned around and headed the other way.

The blond girl, now known as Maya, stopped Li in his tracks. "Hold on there." She said. "I know a faster way. We'll get your girlfriend back in no time." The blond girl took out a small bag and poured a white powder, trailing it around into the form of a circle. The others watched in amazement as the circle started to glow. "And now, ladies and gentlemen," The girl started, "Let's go get that nice girl back."

In the graveyard, Faust continued mocking the poor little girl's abilities as his followers looked on and laughed. The Dark Lord broke the chains and forced Sakura to fall on the ground, face first. Faust's minions laughed even more as Sakura wiped the little bit of dirt and grass from her face.

"Get up." Faust said as he dangled the key again to lure her up.

Sakura slowly got back on her feet but was immediately forced back against the tomb, causing the men to laugh once more. Sakura felt her body magically pinned against the icy cold surface of the statue again but noticed there weren't any chains. She then saw Faust pointing his finger out, indicating that he was the one doing this to her.

"Now watch as I destroy your only chance of survival." The Dark Lord said as he exclaimed something in a strange, foreign language. "_Destrua!"_ With that said, Sakura's key began to spark and eventually shatter into pieces. Her key and her staff were no more.

Sakura was released from Faust's grip and dropped to her knees, woozy and a bit disoriented. Faust laughed at the girl and started kicking dirt on her.

"Come now, little girl! Surely you can use your magic without the use of your staff!" He teased. He then noticed Sakura struggling to maintain her balance. "No? Then you're even more pathetic than I thought! Now get up! If I can't kill Clow Reed, then I might as well kill you!" Faust levitated Sakura back on her feet and brought her towards him with a simple wave of his hand. "And to think my men considered you a threat." He grinned as he started to electrocute the girl with his dark magic.

Sakura screamed out in pain but was unable to fall down seeing as Faust had total control of her. After a while, the torture stopped and she started to breath heavily.

Faust prepared for another assault when suddenly he was interrupted by the sound of Li's voice. "Hey! You're hurting my girlfriend!" Li unleashed his sword and a number of ofuda. "And I don't like that sort of thing!"

"What?" Faust looked back and saw Li, Eriol, Cerberus, Nakuru, Maya, Suki and the Irishman ready for battle. Confused and too stupid to fight, Faust was sent flying through the statue thanks to an electric attack sent by Eriol.

The magicians immediately went at it with Faust's men as Li helped his beloved up. He carried her over to Maya's magic circle and wiped the blood and sweat from her face. Sakura was unconscious but he knew she was still alive. He could hear her heart beating faster than usual, probably because of the enormous amount of electricity she endured.

Faust got back up and chanted something again. In a matter of seconds, Faust and his minions vanished into thick clouds of black smoke. The group hurried back over to the circle and transported out of the graveyard. It was unclear at this point who won and who lost this small battle but one thing was certain: The _real_ fight was about to begin.


	6. Symbols In The Stars

CHAPTER SIX

The streets in front of the cathedral were cleaned up in no time and the memories of the innocent bystanders were erased and altered thanks to the ingenuity of Mr. James Elliot Graham and his associates. Some of the magicians from the meeting, especially those who helped rescue Sakura, were hanging around Eriol's house. Inside one of the bedrooms, Sakura laid on a bed, sleeping off her injuries as her friends sat around and waited.

An older man with dark skin and wearing a white African ensemble, complete with hat, stood over Sakura. He closed his eyes and chanted something in his native tongue, shaking a small doll that rattled with each move.

Tomoyo leaned over to Eriol and whispered to him. "Who's that?"

Eriol replied, "That's an old friend of mine. A Voodoo witch doctor adored by many back home. I don't know his name, really. But we all call him Pops."

Tomoyo nodded then asked again, "What's he doing?"

"He's chanting a sort of healing spell on her. He talks to the spirits around him and asks for their help. Voodoo is a strange magic but I really think it works if you truly believe in it." Eriol paused and looked over to Tomoyo. He then tried to tell her something but was interrupted by the Irishman as he came over to them.

"How are you feeling?" He asked Eriol.

"Oh, fine. Fine. I'm okay, thanks." Eriol responded, trying to shoo the boy away. No use. The blond Irish boy then turned his attention to Tomoyo.

"And how are _you_ doing, miss?" He asked her, prompting Eriol to turn red. Not cutesy red like Li used to get over Sakura but seriously-pissed-off red like Li used to get over Touya or Eriol.

Tomoyo smiled and said, "Oh, I'm just fine. Thank you for asking. Oh and thank you for saving me earlier." 

"You're welcome." The boy said. "By the way, my name is Liam. Liam McKissick."

"My name is Tomoyo Daidouji." The lavender-haired girl said then pointed out the rest of her friends' names. Eriol realized he had a bit of competition now but didn't want to cause a scene.

After Pops was done chanting, he took a seat next to Kaho and removed his hat to wipe off the sweat from his shiny bald head. "That girl's got a lot of spirit in her. She took a hell of a beating but I think she'll be all right nonetheless." The old man said.

Kaho nodded and said, "I know she will. Sakura isn't a quitter."

Kero sat on the coffee table, holding a cookie in his hands but not eating it. His concern for Sakura outweighed his gluttony at the moment. Just then, Spinel came floating in the room and noticed all the people.

"Okay, what the hell's going on here? Who took my magazines and who ate that leftover latke I left in the fridge!?" The flying cat demanded to know. He then froze in place when he saw a familiar yellow doll sitting on the table.

Kero made eye contact with the cat and grinned a devilish grin, the kind IRS agents make when they catch you off guard. "Well, hey! What's new, pussycat!?" The yellow doll chuckled much to Spinel's horror.

"Oh, man! Just leave me the hell alone!" The cat tried to flee but Kero tackled him to the floor and started slamming his head against the wood paneling. "Oh, come on! Please!" The cat pleaded but Kero wouldn't listen.

"Nuh-uh! I told you I'd make you pay and I meant it!" Kero said as he continued beating up the flying cat.

Sakura, meanwhile, remained asleep and started to have a strange dream. She saw herself standing in the middle of a raging battlefield. Several people were falling before her, dead or severely wounded. She noticed the old building around her, open from the top yet sealed all around. She heard cries of agony and saw blazes of fire fall from the sky until a bright light blinded her.

Afterwards, she woke up and was surprised to see all her friends surrounding her. They hurried to her side, to see if she was okay. Sakura smiled at them, "Hi..."

Li hugged her tightly and sighed from relief. "I knew you'd be okay." He said in a gentle tone.

Kero flew over to her and asked, "What happened to your staff? Why didn't you use it?" 

Sakura sat up and searched herself for the key. She then remembered what had happened earlier. "Oh, that's right." She said to herself. "It was destroyed. Faust destroyed my key. And by doing that, he also destroyed my staff."

Kero and the others were speechless but Sakura didn't know why. "I could just summon another one, right?" Sakura asked.

Kero shrugged and tried to explain. "I don't think it's that simple, Sakura. That staff formed a bond with your magic and now that it's gone, there's a void that desperately needs to be filled. And I think making another staff is just going to complicate things a bit."

"I agree with Kero." Eriol joined in. "Your staff was your only weapon against the darkness and if you were to make another one, it might severely drain your magic."

Sakura thought for a moment and asked, "So what do I do? I can't let Faust get away. I have to do something." Sakura then noticed the magic Sakura book glowing from inside her bag. She got up from the bed and took it out.

"What are you doing?" Nakuru asked.

"Wait..." Sakura said as she opened the seal. In an instant, Sakura found herself once again in the spirit realm. The blue and purple mist that surrounded her gave off a soothing feeling she hadn't felt in a while. She looked around and noticed her friends were gone but she knew she wasn't alone. After a few moments, Clow Reed suddenly appeared before her.

"Hello, Sakura. It's good to see you again." The magician said.

"Clow Reed..." Sakura started. "What am I supposed to do now? My staff is gone and Faust has--"

Clow Reed interrupted her. "Calm down, Sakura. I am well aware of Faust's return to power."

"Why didn't you kill him if he was such a big threat?" Sakura asked him.

"Sakura, I was brought up under the belief that all life, no matter how insignificant, is sacred. But looking back on my actions and judging by today's little fiasco, I must admit I regret not killing him when I had the chance." The great magician responded. "Now his fate lies in _your_ hands, Sakura. You will do what you have to."

"But how? My staff is gone. And Kero and Eriol think making another one is a bad idea." Sakura tried to explain. "There's no way I can defeat Faust now."

Clow Reed chuckled and tried to reassure her. "Of course there's a way, Sakura. You simply have to look down deep in your heart and find the magic within. Your emotions, your desires, are what control the cards. Not the staff." 

Sakura looked confused. "I don't understand."

"If you become one with the cards, you will unleash a power you never thought you had." He explained. "But to defeat Faust and his army, you will need help."

Clow raised his arm and pointed out to the starry sky. Three images appeared from the stars, aligned like constellations. One of them was a cross with the initials JCC going down the middle, the other was a skull with a ring attached to the nose, and the third was a ring of fire. Clow Reed then explained the symbols to Sakura. "These symbols will lead you to three distinct individuals who will help you on your journey. To find them, you simply need to open your eyes."

Sakura still didn't understand what was going on. "How do I know where to look?" She asked. "They could be anywhere."

"Just trust your instincts and follow your heart, Sakura. That is the _true _key to your power." The magician said as he and the spirit realm vanished.

Sakura found herself back in the room with her friends. Eriol got up from his seat and asked Sakura, "You saw him, didn't you? You spoke to Clow Reed."

Sakura nodded and said, "He wants me to find 3 men who can help me on my journey."

"What men?" Asked Kaho.

Sakura shook her head slowly then said, "I'm not sure. He only showed me three symbols that would lead me to them."

"What kind of symbols?" Spinel asked.

Sakura went over to the desk and took out a piece of paper and a pen. She started to draw the first symbol as she explained. "One of them was a cross with JCC written down the middle. It had a floral decor running around it." She drew the second symbol. "The other was a ring of fire. I really don't know what it means." She was about to draw the third symbol when she noticed the doll Pops had in his hand.

"What's the third symbol?" Tomoyo asked. Sakura gave no response as she pointed at the doll.

Pops looked confused. "What? What is it?"

Sakura took the doll and studied its facial structure then whispered to herself. "A skull with a ring attached to the nose." Sakura looked at Pops in disbelief. "That's the third symbol. You're one of the three."

Pops looked even more confused and giggled nervously. "Say what, little girl?"

Sakura sat back down and massaged her head, trying to comprehend what was going on. After a while she said, "I think it's time we got back home."

"And leave Faust to have fun with his minions as they dig up his army?" Eriol demanded to know.

"Yes! Leave! Please!" Spinel said, afraid that Kero would come back to haunt him.

Maya, Suki and Liam just stood there, wondering if they should get involved or not. Sakura, Tomoyo and Li exchanged glances. Should they go or should they stay? Sakura finally sighed and said, "All right, we'll stay. We've got to get to the bottom of this."

"So where do we start looking for the other symbols?" Nakuru asked.

Kaho studied Sakura's drawing of the cross and had an idea. "Wait a minute. This cross looks familiar. I've seen it somewhere before."

"Really? Where?" Sakura asked.

Kaho walked out of the room as Sakura and her friend followed behind. They went inside another room where a television was kept. Spinel grabbed the remote and flew it over to the teacher. She turned the television on and started flipping through the channels.

"What are you doing? This isn't the time to be watching TV!" Kero griped.

"Hey, it's 9:30! Sanford & Son is on!" Nakuru said but Kaho kept flipping through the channels. After a while, she finally stopped on a religious cable access program.

"What are we looking at?" Sakura asked as she saw a middle aged man, dressed in a baby blue suit and tie, walking along an altar. The man spoke in a mild southern accent and addressed the congregation as an organ player filled the air with his music.

"And Joseph explained to them that 'even though ye sold me, God did send me!'" The southerner exclaimed to his followers. The organ started playing an upbeat tempo as the preacher went on. "And now I'm gonna help God in his quest to rid the world of all evil by helping get the evil out of _you_! Now who wants to be the first to get healed by the power of the Almighty God!?" He eagerly asked as the congregation went wild.

The television then displayed the symbol on the corner of the screen. Sakura and Kaho pointed it out immediately. "That's it! JCC!" Sakura said. She then looked confused. "Wait, you mean we have to go see _him_? The doofus in the suit?"

The television then enlarged the image of the cross as a man's voice said, "If you'd like to contribute to this house of God, please send a check or money order to: VIRGIL HOUSE OF GOD BAPTIST CHURCH; PO BOX 76523; VIRGIL, TEXAS."

Everyone in the room dropped their jaw in disbelief and shouted in unison, "Texas!?"

Li then brought up a fascinating subject. "Hey, wait a minute! What's a Southern Baptist channel doing on British television!?"

Spinel shrugged. "Hey, it's cable. They'll show anything!"


	7. Puzzling Evidence

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just want to say thanks to those who have been reading and following along on this story. Now I know some of you are wondering, "Man, he's just making this stuff up." Or "What? I don't get it." Or even "Does he even know where he's going with this?" Or quite possibly, "Hey, this isn't AtomFilms! Where the hell am I!?" Just be cool, my babies! Everything's under control! Everything will be explained as the chapters progress! Just sit back, be groovy and relax. Okay? Now on with the story..._**

**_ONE MORE THING: Oh, yeah! This chapter contains the first song of the story. It's not intended for background music, seeing as one of the characters actually performs it in the story. It's based off a certain movie I have in my collection so just bear with me here and try to live through it._**

CHAPTER SEVEN

Somewhere in Europe, away from the city streets and prying eyes, Faust and his men arrived in a vacant meadow filled with dead trees and slabs of rock. Faust looked around for a moment then approached a stone gargoyle standing on an ancient pillar with a Latin scripture written at its base. He placed his hands on the pillar and read aloud the words, channeling his magic into the sculpture. "_Exercitus of Obscurum , Exercitus of Nox noctis! Exsisto existo ex vestri tumbus quod perago vestri pugna!"_

The ground started to shake as the pillar lifted itself upward and eventually revealed an entire temple connected to it. The cloaked men backed away and watched in awe as their master used his magic to stop the trembling. He turned and faced his followers, his eyes glowing bright red, and smiled.

"You've done it, my lord." One of the men said. Faust smiled again and faced the temple once more. He waved his hand in front of the entrance and read the scripture hanging above it. _"Ostendo sum vestri specialis." _

The door of the temple opened as a bright light began to shine through. Faust raised his arm and summoned his weapon; a razor sharp saber with a dragon-like tail running along its frame. A glowing red beam of energy flowed through the sword and pressed itself against the walls of the temple as Faust called out to his army. "You are free, my children! The time has come to break free from your prison and strike down those who have wronged you! Clow Reed can no longer stop us!"

Suddenly, hundreds and hundreds of ghoulish spirits, formed in a black and violet haze, swarmed out of the building and let themselves roam along the fields. Then, a swarm of fierce, ebon-winged dragons with horns running down their backside forced their way out of the temple and screeched a piercing wail.

"Music to my ears." The Dark Lord said as he raised his blade into the air and chanted one last spell. _"Obscurum servo nos!"_

A beam of dark energy shot upward into the sky and created a dome that surrounded the tomb. Faust had created a field of magic to protect his army and help them regain their bodies for as long a time as he needed. The wandering spirits moaned and wailed as they flew past their master. "Yes, I know. I know. We'll have you up and running in no time." Faust assured his minions as he looked up at the black sky.

MEANWHILE, SOMEWHERE IN TEXAS...

Meanwhile, somewhere in Texas--

I JUST SAID THAT!

Whatever. A congregation was coming together in a small church as the preacher stood at the alter, smiling and waving at his guests. The camera crew, having tested their equipment, gave the preacher the thumbs up and awaited further instructions. Sakura, Li, Tomoyo and Nakuru arrived at the church and took a seat at the far back. They looked around the building and waited for the rest of the congregation to arrive.

"It's a good thing Maya has plenty of that transport powder hanging around. Otherwise, we'd be wasting a lot of time and money hopping on every plane, train and automobile we come across." Li said.

"Yeah, but what's the big deal? Tomoyo's loaded! I bet she's got plenty of private jets at her disposal!" Nakuru said as she nudged Tomoyo. "Isn't that right, Tomoyo?"

Tomoyo, irritated and exhausted from Nakuru's nonstop talking, snapped at her. "Oh, is _that _all I'm good for? I see how it is! How about if I freeze-dry your ass and add you to my butterfly collection!?"

"Tomoyo, what's gotten into you?" A surprised Sakura asked her normally well-tempered friend.

Tomoyo then noticed she was grabbing Nakuru by the collar and let go immediately. She took a deep breath and smiled, trying to cover up what had just happened. "Sorry." She said in a low voice.

"Yeah, me too." Nakuru said, afraid Tomoyo might bring a full ass-whupping.

After everyone arrived and introductions were made, the preacher went on with his sermon as the camera crew in the back of the church did their job. The choir and the small church band stood at the altar, behind the preacher and played a low tune, trying not to drown out the man's words of wisdom.

"It thrills me." The man started. "It thrills me! We can build a nation inside a nation right where we are!"

"What the hell's he talking about?" Li whispered to himself as the old man went on.

"The choice is _yours. _I'm not a joiner. I'm not a member of the John Birch Society or the Communist party." The old man wiped a bit of sweat from his head and continued. "But let's look at what's happened to the national morals since World War II."

A large projector screen made its way down behind the podium where the old man stood at. After a few seconds, an image of Richard Nixon appeared as the man went on. "We lost the Vietnam war."

The organ player struck a chord for dramatic effect. Then images of famous celebrities were now being shown on the screen. "The movies and the television are filled with characters I don't even want to know. Not in _this _life!" It now seemed that whatever the preacher was talking about was immediately displayed on the screen in a sort of slideshow.

"The farmer's in trouble. The small businessman is in trouble. Unemployment is skyrocketing!" The man paused for a minute as a picture of JFK appeared. "Texas is still paying for John Kennedy's death, my friends."

Nakuru leaned in close to Sakura and whispered to her. "And _this_ is the guy who's supposed to help you?"

Sakura nodded. "Who else can it be? Look at the symbol." She pointed at the cross, which was displaying itself at the bottom left corner of the projection screen.

The preacher man continued. "Now, let's look at who's been running this country since World War II." The band started to play a fast tempo as various political figures were put on display.

People like J. Edgar Hoover, President Regan, Richard Nixon, material objects like money, phones, electronics and automobiles were seen in the slideshow as the man expressed his concern about the country. "And they have some involvement in all of these. What is the link? What do cars have to do with books, you might ask. The Trilateral Commission with the Council on Foreign Relations, did you ever hear of them?"

No one responded. The old man nodded. "Well, neither did I. Until I noticed the chain of coincidence." The band then started to play the introduction of a song that seemed to be on standby. "They have members on the boards of all the largest corporations. Not one detail has been left out. Am I right? Do you feel it?" The congregation nodded and followed along with what the man was saying.

Sakura shook her head. "Oh, God. What's wrong with these people?"

The old man didn't stop there as he continued to make his point. "Do you know what Bobby Ray Inman was doing before he war running the microelectronics and the Computer Tech Corporation? Well, guess! A CIA director! It's public knowledge! Do you run out of Kleenex, paper towels and toilet paper at the same time? You know it's true!"

"It's all true!" Nakuru shouted as she stood up from her seat.

"Will you sit down!?" Li pulled her back.

The old man wiped off some more sweat and started moving to the music. "Do you remember how Governor White campaigned to get the MCC here? Do you know what their goal is, huh? Well, Elvis did!" He pointed out to a picture of the King shaking hands with Nixon on the screen. "Artificial intelligence, huh? Robots! They'd like that, wouldn't they? Yes, sir! Sleep! Sleep! One and one does not equal two! No, sir! No, sir!"

"Yes it does." A very confused Tomoyo said to herself.

The old man started to wave his hand in the air. "Silicon Gulch! Silicon Prairie! Silicon Hill! Silicon Valley! You'd better wake up." And with that said, the entire choir stood up and moved with the music as well. As the preacher sang, his choir backed him up.

_It's late. It's late. It's late!_

_You got the CBS...! And the ABC...!_

_You got Time and Newsweek._

_They're the same to me!_

Sakura noticed everyone getting up and flowing with the music, especially Nakuru. Sakura shrugged and decided to join in. "God, I hope Kaho's right about this guy." She said under her breath.

_Now, don't you wanna get right with me?_

_(Puzzlin' Evidence!)_

_I hope you get everything you need._

_(Puzzlin' Evidence!)_

_Well, it's-a Puzzlin' Evidence!_

_Puzzlin' Evidence!_

_Puzzlin' Evidence!_

_Done hardened in your heart!_

Li tried to speak over the music. "So what's the plan?"

Sakura struggled as well and tried her best to respond. "After the sermon is over, we wait for everyone to leave. Then we hit him with the truth and everything that's going on."

"Does he have any magical abilities?"

Sakura shrugged. "We'll have to find out, won't we?"

_Oh, hardened in your heart. Y'all listen._

_Now, I am the gun. _

_And you are the bullet._

_I got the power and glory._

_(Puzzlin'!)_

_And the money to buy it._

_(Puzzlin'!)_

Nakuru was having a good time, moving to the music and throwing her hands into the air. "Damn, these Americans know how to worship!"

Tomoyo took out her camera and started filming everything around her. She then noticed the camera crew in the back and slowly lowered her equipment. "Oh, I see. This spot's already been taken." She sighed. "Fine. I don't care."

_You got your Gulf and Western and your Mastercard._

_(Puzzlin' Evidence!)_

_Got what you wanted, lost what you've had._

_(Puzzlin' Evidence!)_

_I'm seeing Puzzlin' Evidence!_

_Puzzlin' Evidence!_

_Puzzlin' Evidence!_

_Done hardened in your heart!_

_It's hardened up in your heart..._

Li was starting to get bored, despite the number of people who were dancing all around him. He then noticed Tomoyo and Sakura looking a bit strange. Their faces were still and emotionless but their bodies were still rocking with the music.

"What's wrong with them?" Nakuru asked.

Li shrugged. "I don't know." He tapped Sakura on the shoulder but didn't get a response. He then tried to see what Sakura was looking at and shot a glance across the room, immediately getting entranced himself.

_All right. Are you listening?_

_What I'm saying is real._

_(Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh.)_

_Isn't that puzzlin'?_

_(Huh. Huh. Huh. Huh.)_

_I'm puzzlin'._

_(Huh.)_

_I'm puzzlin'._

_(Huh.)_

Nakuru then noticed Sakura, Li and Tomoyo starting to shake. She stepped back a few inches and shook her head. "Oh, what did I do this time?" She looked around to see if anyone else was entranced but they all seemed to be just fine. Nakuru then looked back to see that her friends were now gone. "Uh-oh."

_Well, I hope that you're happy with what you've made._

_(Puzzlin' Evidence!)_

_In the land of the free and the home of the brave._

_(Puzzlin' Evidence!)_

_I'm seeing Puzzlin' Evidence!_

_Puzzlin' Evidence!_

_Puzzlin' Evidence!_

_Done hardened in your heart!_

Sakura, Li and Tomoyo revealed themselves from behind a group of people and started doing a suspiciously choreographed dance routine at the front of the aisle.

Nakuru placed her hands on her head in disbelief and started to panic. "What the hell are you three doing!? It was fun at first but now you're just making yourselves out to be idiots!"

Sakura, Li and Tomoyo waved their hands in the air, hopped around at a full circle on one leg, did a funny looking shuffle and backed away to the rhythm of the song as it came to a close.

The preacher spoke over the last few chords of the song. "All right, now. Y'all listen to what I've been telling you today, you hear?"

As the song ended, Sakura and her friends snapped out of the trance and looked around in confusion. "What are we doing at the front of the church?" Li asked.

Sakura noticed the mass was coming to an end as several of the people were heading out the door. She looked at her friends and nodded. "Let's go do this thing."


	8. Origins

**_Sorry about the long wait! You know how it is! Work, booze, work... echh. Anyway, I promise things will get better in later chapters so just PLEASE stick around! Thanks!_**

CHAPTER EIGHT

Sakura approached the old preacher man as he was dismissing the choir and band. She politely smiled and shook his hand. "Hello. My name is Sakura Kinomoto." She said.

The old man smiled back and replied in his smooth southern accent, "Well, hello there. How are ya? Thanks for coming to mass this beautiful Sunday. I don't think I've seen you around here before."

Sakura nervously giggled and continued. "Yeah, it's our first time here. Listen, Mr..." She suddenly paused. She was completely unaware of the old man's name.

"Corin. James Corin. But everyone calls me Jimmy." The old man told her.

"Okay, Mr. Corin. Uh, _Jimmy_." Sakura muttered. "I was wondering if my friends and I could speak to you in private."

"You have something to confess?" He asked.

Sakura nodded and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Come with me." The old man led them to a backroom of the church. There they approached a small round table and each took a seat. "Can I offer you anything to drink?" Jimmy asked them but Sakura shook her head.

"No thank you." She said. "Jimmy, I hear you're one of the best preachers in town."

The old man chuckled and shrugged. "Oh, well I do what I can."

"You've been called 'one of the greatest faith healers of our time' by many." Sakura thought for a minute and continued. "Tell me. Is there any_ real _magic involvement in what you do?"

The preacher looked confused. "What, in my faith healing sessions? Well, I wouldn't say magic exactly. More like 'divine intervention' or 'spirit channeling' or something like that. But not magic. Why do you ask?"

Sakura looked at her friends and decided to bite the bullet on this one. "Sir, I have reason to believe that you're going to help me on a very important mission. One that no ordinary person can comprehend."

Jimmy raised an eyebrow and shifted his eyes around. "Huh?"

"All right, I know this is going to sound crazy but right now I'm tracking down a demon army led by a very evil being known as Faust. He wants to use his army of darkness to eliminate mankind and recreate the world in his image and _I_ have to stop him. Now somehow, someway, _you're _supposed to help me." Sakura blurted the words out in so much of a hurry that the preacher almost didn't catch it.

"Okay, who sent you?" He asked.

Sakura shook her head. "No one. I'm being serious."

"Are you?" The man snapped at her. "Because it seems to me that you've been watching too many cartoons! Demon army? I don't think so, child."

"I thought a preacher, of all people, would understand something like that." Li said to him.

"My boy, faith healing is a very serious practice. It's not a game." The man got up from his seat and started to leave.

"Oh yeah? I bet you're just faking it!" Nakuru shouted, causing the man to pause.

He slowly turned his head around and gave Nakuru a dirty stare. "Faking?" He growled. "You think what I do is a joke?"

"Nakuru, what are you doing?" Sakura asked.

Nakuru ignored Sakura and started to go on a rant, further angering the preacher man. "No, I've heard about this! Apparently these guys go around pretending to have the touch of God in them and start smacking people over the head, making them believe that whatever evil was in them is now destroyed. If you're crippled, it's the devil! If you're blind, it's the devil! If you're deaf, it's the devil!" She let off a mischievous grin and looked Jimmy right in the eye. "You're a phony. Admit it."

"Get out of my church." The old man said.

"Mr. Corin, I _really_ need you to come back with us." Sakura pleaded.

"No. Get out." Jimmy just wouldn't budge.

Sakura sighed and took out a bag of Maya's transport powder. "All right. I didn't want to have to do this."

"What is that?" He noticed Sakura forming a circled around them with the powder. "What are you doing?"

"It's time to go now, Mr. Corin." She said.

BACK IN LONDON

James Elliot Graham and his associates sat in the living room of Eriol's house, discussing their current situation with the blue-eyed boy.

"I've already spoken with several of the magicians who were at the meeting." Graham said.

"And?" An eager Eriol leaned forward from his seat.

"And I'm afraid that some of them just aren't willing to assist you. There are those who share your concern on the matter but are afraid of getting involved. I'm sure you've noticed by now that most of them have already gone back home."

Eriol nodded and sighed. "Yes. I have. I'm just glad Pops is willing to stick around."

"Don't forget about _us_." Liam said as he, Suki and Maya walked in the room.

Eriol growled under his breath, "I didn't."

Spinel suddenly came floating into the room with a surprised yet confused look on his face. "Mr. Graham? Can I see you for a minute?"

"What is it?" The old man asked.

Spinel stuttered for a moment then said, "Look, it's kind of hard to explain. Just follow me downstairs."

"Very well. If you'll excuse me, Eriol." Graham said as he followed the cat out of the room.

Just then, a flash of light appeared in the middle of the room and sent forth Sakura and her friends. A nervous Jimmy Corin started to breathe heavily as he glanced around him. "What? Where...? How did you do that?"

Sakura tossed the bag of magic powder to Maya and winked at the preacher. "Magic."

"Good to see you're putting it to good use." The blond haired girl said.

"Kidnapping! That's what this is!" The preacher man shouted. "You kids are gonna pay for this!"

"Please, just calm down." Sakura said.

"Calm down!? I've been taken against my will! How? I don't know!" The preacher started to hyperventilate.

"It's magic, Mr. Corin." Eriol said.

"Magic? Okay, I'll buy that. For _now_. But can somebody please tell me what the hell's going on?"

Pops showed the man to a seat and smiled. "Kidnapping, huh? Nice one, Sakura."

Sakura grinned and looked over to Eriol. "Maybe you should get him all caught up."

Eriol nodded. "Very well."

"I hope you're comfortable. This is one long-ass story." Li joked to the man.

Eriol gave Li a dirty look and began. "It all started with a magician named Clow Reed..."

All right, I'm just gonna fast forward through the stuff we already know and get to the _really_ interesting bits. Just hang on a minute...

»FAST FORWARD»

Clowreedwasbornaverypowerfulmagicianblahblahblahyaddayaddayaddaimjustmakingshitup

dontbelieveeverythingimsayingrightnowcuzitwontholdupincourtimonlydoingthistofillupspace

andkilltimesojustbearwithmehereforabouttwentysecondsorsomaybelongerthatthatimnotsure.

(STOP)

«PLAY»

"...And after his circumcision, Clow Reed developed a rather nasty--"

»FAST FORWARD»

Wartthesizeofapingpongballandunfortunatelymedicineatthattimewasohgodimgettingsoboredjust

sittingheretypingthisnonsenseohwellienjoyitforsomestrangereasontheeditingfeatureonthissitewont

letmeusecharactersandifyouractuallytryingtoreadwhatimtypingherethenhuzzahforyouohyeshuzzah.

(STOP)

«PLAY»

Eriol took off his glasses and wiped them with his shirt then continued the story. "The creation of the Clow cards led to a following of enemies who would try to steal the cards and use them for evil. Faust, however, wasn't one of them. He had an agenda all his own."

"Now where did this Faust fella come from?" The preacher asked.

Sakura, Li and the others looked intrigued for they too wondered the same thing. "Now why didn't _I_ ask that?" Sakura said to herself.

Eriol started to explain. "Sakura, are you aware of the Opera of the same name?"

Sakura thought for a second. "You mean about the man who sold his soul to the devil for the pinnacle of human happiness?"

Eriol nodded. "Would you believe me if I told you it was a _true_ story?"

Everyone's jaw dropped in amazement. Sakura, for some strange reason, grinned a bit. "You mean that's the Faust I'm fighting? Wow... I mean, no! No, that's... that's not good. Nope. Not good at all."

Eriol smiled and continued his story. "Faust made a deal with a man who was possessed by a demonic spirit. His soul for the ultimate knowledge. In the many years Faust lived, he learned many things in the fields of science and magic, eventually intertwining the two. Faust then eventually achieved his goal but by the time the devil came back to collect, Faust had already mastered the dark side of magic. He used his new abilities to kill the possessed man and send the demon back into the netherworld."

"What made him turn so evil?" A confused Sakura asked.

"The pursuit of ultimate knowledge drove the guy crazy." Kero answered. "He was considered an outcast amongst the religious sect and branded a blasphemer in all of Germany."

"Faust is German?" Tomoyo asked.

Li scoffed and shook his head. "Man, what is it about German men in tight, binding underwear that makes them think they can rule the world?"

Eriol nodded along and went back on topic. "In the end, Faust deemed humanity a lost cause and forged an army from the deepest, most darkest realms of his mind. He wiped out several villages and gathered a following along his way. No one dared to stand up to him."

"Except Clow Reed." Sakura said.

"Clow and his followers, along with myself and Yue, tracked Faust down in Japan and took that sucker out!" Kero excitedly claimed. "We whupped his ass!"

Kero and Eriol high-fived each other in a sudden rush of fond reminiscing. "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about..." The blue haired boy mumbled.

Jimmy the preacher man ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "Okay. One thing I don't get. Clow Reed imprisoned Faust, right? Then Clow Reed died years later. How is it some of his followers were able to let this guy out of his cell? I mean, shouldn't they be dead by now?"

"People who are heavily in tune with their magic powers have the rare gift of immortality. Clow Reed was an immortal being for some time. But after seeing his loved ones die, one by one, he decided it wasn't the kind of life he wanted." Eriol explained then looked over to Sakura and Li. "It's a rare attribute that so few magicians can obtain. I have it. Yukito has it. Nakuru has it."

"Hells yeah, I do!" Nakuru shouted.

"Li has it." Eriol continued.

"I do?" Li was surprised.

Eriol looked deep into Sakura's eyes and said, "...And _you_ have it as well, Sakura."

Sakura backed away, a bit disturbed and started to tremble. "I... I'm immortal?"

Eriol nodded. "Yes. But if you one day decide to live a natural course, you simply need to renounce your immortality aloud like you would any other spell. Your magic will do the rest."

"Okay..." Sakura started. "Fine, then I'll--"

Eriol interrupted her. "Only when you're ready, Sakura. Don't be too hasty."

Jimmy Corin leaned back against his seat and exhaled deeply. "Oh, Lord. Be my strength. So you mentioned three symbols. One of 'em led to Pops and the other led to me. What now?"

"Now?" Sakura began as she picked up the drawing she made earlier. "We look for the third symbol and figure out how you guys fit in to all of this."

"About your symbol..." Tomoyo started. "What is it?"

"Don't you know a cross when you see one?" Jimmy snapped at her.

"Of course I do. But what do the initials mean?" She asked.

The preacher chuckled from disbelief. "You mean you haven't figured it out? It's my name, silly girl!"

"JCC." Sakura thought aloud. "What does the other 'C' Stand for?"

"Oh, it's Craig. My middle name." The man said with a grin.

Suddenly everyone in the room broke out laughing but Jimmy couldn't understand why. "Now what's so funny?" He asked as he looked around.

"Should... Should I..." Li tried to speak but the laughter inside was pinning him down. "Should someone tell him or should I?" He broke out laughing again.

The preacher man stood up and put his hands to his hips, demanding to know why they were laughing at him. "I don't get it. What is it?"

"It's your name!" Tomoyo said through her laughter.

"What about it? It's a decent, honest American name!" The preacher man said as he started to lose his patience. "Well, you know what? I don't care what you think! I'm an American and damn proud to be one! I'm Jimmy Craig Corin!"

"Yeah? Well, I don't care!" Tomoyo blurted out as she fell to the floor, busting a gut with the rest of her friends.

Mr. Graham and Spinel entered the room and saw everyone lying on the floor, laughing hysterically. He cleared his throat and got their attention. "Pardon the intrusion. But I believe there is something you should see, Ms. Kinomoto."


	9. Army? What Army?

_**SPECIAL CELEBRITY GUEST STAR ALERT!**_

_**SPECIAL CELEBRITY GUEST STAR ALERT!**_

_**SPECIAL CELEBRITY GUEST STAR ALERT!**_

**_...sort of. For legal and various other reasons, I can't use his real name. So I'll make one up! You'll know who I'm talking about!_**

CHAPTER NINE

Sakura and her friends followed Mr. Graham and Spinel down the stairs and into the living room. There they saw an increased number of magicians standing around, talking to each other as if they were planning something big.

"I thought you said they left." Eriol said to Graham.

The old man nodded and replied, "They did. But they came back."

"And in larger numbers!" Spinel added.

"What are they all doing here?" Sakura asked the old man.

"We're waiting for _you_, Sakura." A voice said. The television magician Sakura recognized from the meeting approached them with a grin on his face. "My name is--"

"Davey Payne!" Tomoyo interrupted him. "You're that crazy American guy who tried to hold his breath underwater for nine minutes!"

"Yes. Unfortunately my plan to cheat backfired." He said. "I was planning on using the gastric deposits from my digestive track to help me breathe underwater."

"Huh?" A confused Tomoyo asked.

"He tried eating his farts." A disgusted Li said.

The celebrity nodded with an almost embarrassed look on his face. "Yes. The stench on my breath was so severe, I tried keeping my mouth closed for four days. Instead I only made it to 3 minutes when somebody called my name and, like a fool, I answered, 'what'. I've never been so depressed in my life."

"You call that magic?" Nakuru scoffed. "That's nothing but Jack-assing if you ask me."

"First of all, I'm an _illusionist_. Not a magician." He explained to the girl in his slow, monotone, boring-ass voice.

"_That's_ for damn sure." She teased.

"You said you were waiting for me." Sakura interrupted. "For what?"

"To see if you're willing to join their cause." Mr. Graham said.

"What cause?" The green eyed girl just got even more and more confused.

"Yesterday's attack at the meeting forced all of us to come together and work as one." The so-called "illusionist" explained.

Li butted in. "Where are you getting this 'us' crap? You didn't do a damn thing!"

Payne nodded. "Perhaps not. But it made me realize something. That for the first time, we were united against a common enemy. If this Faust person is determined to do what you say he will, then we have no choice but to bring him down."

"He's becoming a real threat to not only you, Sakura. But to us as well." Liam added to the conversation.

"You knew they were planning this?" Eriol asked the Irishman.

"Since yesterday." Suki said. "We just didn't think they'd come back with this many."

"And when were you planning on telling me this?" Sakura demanded to know.

"We weren't." Maya said. "We were going to do things on our own but then we remembered all the trouble you went through yesterday. So we figured you might want in on the action."

Sakura looked at her friends, who were all surprised as well and didn't know what to think. She sighed and attempted to get things straight. "Okay, hold on. Do you people realize what you're doing here? You're starting... I don't know. Like some sort of army or something."

Payne nodded. "Yes. That's _exactly_ what we're doing."

"So..." Maya started. "Are you in or out?"

Sakura began to tremble, unable to decide what to do. "Oh... I don't know. I mean, I already have so much to do. I need to find the 3rd symbol, Jimmy and Pops are involved somehow and I need to regain control of my magic."

"Sakura." Kaho entered the room after overhearing the conversation. "I know things seem a little confusing for you right now. But defeating Faust isn't a one person ordeal."

"She's right, Sakura." Kero said. "You're gonna need help. And right now I see a lot of volunteers who are ready to go in and kick some major tail." Kero then noticed Spinel sitting on the coffee table, minding his own business. "And speaking of tail... Hey! Come here, you little hairball!"

Spinel turned his head and noticed Kero flying zooming towards him. "Oh, dear God! Not again! Please!" The yellow doll charged into the cat and started beating the crap out of him again.

Sakura went outside of the house and stood on the front lawn. She looked up and noticed the sun beginning to set. Just then, Li approached her and put his hand on her shoulder. She smiled and pulled him closer, wrapping herself in his arms.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"I don't know." She said. "So much has happened in these last few days. I don't know how I'm going to pull this one off."

Li slowly turned Sakura around and looked deep into her eyes, his arms still on her shoulders. "Listen to me, Sakura." He started. "Whatever you may be going through, no matter how hard or difficult it may seem, you just remember. You never have to go through it alone."

"I know I don't." She said with a smile. "I knew I fell in love with you for a reason."

The brown-eyed boy blushed as his heart started to pound. She was right there in front of him, everyone else was in the house and there wasn't a more perfect moment to do it than during a sunset.

Sakura was thinking the exact same thing. Her heart was beating just as fast as Li's and she could sense the passion between the two of them. Her lips were ready to join his and the sunset made it seem more romantic to her.

They both leaned in and...

CRASH!

Spinel was sent flying through the window, causing our favorite couple to stop dead in their tracks. Their lips hadn't even gotten _near_ the finish line. The cat rolled along the grass, sobbing and growling at the same time. Kero poked his head out of the broken window and nervously chuckled.

"Too much?" He asked.

"Are you freaking kidding me!?" Spinel shouted at the doll. "If my master would let me change, I would _definitely_ kick your ass!" He then turned his attention towards Sakura, who was seriously distraught at the moment. "Sakura! Miss... do something about your little dolly here. _Please_!"

"Those two really need help." Li sighed.

Sakura then realized something. "Help?" She thought for a moment. "Help. Three symbols..."

"What is it?" Li asked her.

"If they're building an army to fight Faust, then why _shouldn't_ I join? But I still have to focus on the 3rd symbol and regain control of my magic. What if..." She was stuck on a thought she couldn't quite get.

"Yeah?" Li eagerly awaited her answer.

"Clow Reed told me I would need help. He said to follow my instincts and trust my heart. And right now my heart is telling me something I don't like." She said. "But it has to be done. For the good of the world, it _has _to be done."

Sakura and Li went back inside the house and faced the group of magicians. They all looked at her, waiting for her final decision.

"Well?" Mr. Graham asked. "Have you come to a decision?"

Sakura nodded with a freakishly odd grin on her face. "Oh yeah. I've seen the signs, I've done enough soul searching and I've seen evil in the face. All this I've done but my fate with this army is clear now. I know just what to do with you!"

"What, you'll join us then?" Maya asked.

Sakura shook her head. "No, I'm going to _lead_ you!"


	10. Invasion Of Mind

CHAPTER TEN

The next day found everyone preparing themselves for the ultimate challenge. Inside the old cathedral, where the meeting had taken place, hundreds of magicians, wizards, sorcerers, and other people with abilities were in training. Many were concocting new spells to attack with while some were mixing new potions, powders and other useful substances. Others were attempting to join their powers to create a focused, concentrated attack but they weren't able to achieve such a goal just yet.

Eriol, Kero, Spinel and Li watched close by in amazement as all these people came together. "If everything goes right, Faust won't stand a chance." Kero said.

"We can only hope." The blue-eyed boy said.

Eriol then noticed Suki and Maya speaking with Jimmy and Davey Payne but couldn't see where Tomoyo and Liam were. Mr. Graham entered the building with some of his men and greeted the boy.

"Mr. Graham." Eriol started. "Have you seen Liam or Tomoyo?"

"Yes. I think I saw them outside. Talking." The old man said.

"Are you sure that's _all_ they were doing?" Eriol said with a lump in his throat.

Mr. Graham shrugged. "I don't know."

"Oh, God!" The magician ran outside the building, leaving Li and the others behind.

"What's with _him_?" Kero asked.

"Oh, he's got a thing for Tomoyo now. It's really kind of sad." Li answered. "I bet you anything he's going to come up with some stupid trick to get her inside."

Eriol kicked the doors of the church open and hurried outside, jolting his head left and right, searching for Tomoyo. He then saw her with Liam, speaking by the railing on the side of the building. He walked up to them, trying to keep a straight face.

"Hello." The boy said, out of breath.

"Oh. Hi, Eriol." Tomoyo said with a smile.

Eriol blushed again but shook it off. He didn't want to look like an idiot in front of the Irish boy. "It's kind of cold out here. In fact, I think it might even rain. Don't you think?" He asked.

Liam and Tomoyo looked at each other then shook their heads. "No." They both said.

"Well, it might!" Eriol's voice slightly cracked. He was so desperate to have her under his watch instead of Liam's.

The Irish boy chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. I'm sure if it does rain, I could make a spell to keep us dry from the mean, old rain." He teased.

Eriol's plan to lure them back inside backfired. Just then, Tomoyo's cell phone started to ring.

"Hello?" She answered. "Oh, hi mom! Hold on, okay?" She looked at the two boys. "I'll be right back." And with that said, she went back inside the building.

Eriol sighed from relief and followed her inside. Liam wasn't too far behind. Li sighed and pulled his "rival" aside.

"What is it?" He asked Li.

"I see what's going on, Hiiragizawa." The brown-haired boy said. "And let me give you a little advice. Don't wait too long to tell her how you feel. I made that mistake once. But I was lucky to have gotten her in the end."

Eriol nodded and walked off. Li then looked around the building but couldn't see where Sakura was. "Where's Sakura?"

Inside a different room, isolated from the others, Sakura and Kaho were sitting on the floor. Sakura had her eyes closed and her cards all laid out in front of her. Kaho was helping her to focus her magic and regain control of the cards.

"Feel the magic flowing through you, Sakura." Kaho said in a calm voice. "Don't be afraid. Trust your instincts. Listen to your heart. What do you hear?"

Sakura concentrated hard and could feel her magic trying to regain its full potential. She breathed slowly as one of the cards started to glow.

"Good." The teacher said as the card slowly arose.

The light from the card faded away, revealing its identity. "The Thunder." Kaho read aloud. "What now, Sakura? What do you request from this card? What would you have it do?"

Sakura kept her eyes closed and focused even harder. Her mind was joining with the cards to achieve a greater power. She was breathing heavily as her mind suddenly drifted into another realm.

Sakura opened her eyes and found herself within the spirit world. This time, however, it looked a lot different than last time. The usual purple and blue haze was replaced with a darker gray and black.

"Hello?" She called out. "Clow Reed? Are you here?"

"No, he's not." A familiar voice said to her.

Sakura turned around and gasped at the sight of Faust, who emerged from a cloud of smoke. His black suit and cape seemed almost invisible around the dark mist. Sakura backed away, knowing she was unarmed and unprepared to fight him.

"Oh, don't be afraid." The Dark Lord told her. "I can't hurt you here."

"Where are we?" She asked him.

"We're in the darkest regions of your mind. _Our_ minds, to be exact." He explained to her. "And unfortunately for you, I can now sense what you're thinking. An army? Don't be so foolish, little girl."

"We're not afraid of you, Faust." Sakura snapped.

"Not yet, you're not." Faust grinned. "If you only knew the horror that awaits you, Sakura. Humanity doesn't stand a chance. And neither do you and your so-called army."

"I _will_ stop you, Faust. One way or another, I _will_ stop you." She warned him.

The Dark Lord wasn't in the least bit concerned. "How cute. I almost believed you for a second. I suppose I have no choice but to show you how serious I am. Tell me, Sakura. Have you checked in on your family lately?" Faust laughed maniacally as he disappeared.

"No!" Sakura shouted, realizing that her family was now in danger.

Bolts of lightning began to spark from the Thunder card as Sakura awoke from her trance with a bloody nose. One of the bolts shot through a wall and grabbed everyone's attention. Sakura then fell back as the card returned with the others.

Kaho helped her up as Li and Tomoyo rushed to her side. "Sakura?" A worried Li asked. "What happened?"

Sakura was now breathing heavily and was in a panic. "We… we have to go back home."

"Home? But we have a job to finish." Kero said.

Sakura shook her head and wiped the blood off from her nose. "No. He's going after my family. I can't let him hurt them. Kero, please!"

The doll nodded and looked back at the others. "Eriol, we've got no choice."

Eriol nodded and looked back at the army. "You go ahead. I'll stay here and help train the others."

Li and Tomoyo managed to get Sakura back on her feet then exchanged glances. They knew something terrible was waiting for them back home.

"Jimmy?" Sakura said.

The preacher man was worried about her. "Yeah?"

"Come with us, please." She was unsure as to why she said that.

"Why's Jimmy coming?" Li asked her.

Sakura shook her head. "I don't know. But I have a very strong feeling we'll need him."

Maya tossed Sakura another bag of magic powder. Li formed the circle then joined Sakura, Tomoyo, Kero and Jimmy inside. As the circle started to shine, Sakura called out to Eriol. "We'll be back in no time, Eriol. Just keep them busy." And in an instant, they were gone.

"I guess you know what this means." Spinel said to his master.

Eriol nodded. "Yes I do." He then turned to the group of magicians and called out to them. "All right everybody! She's gone! Break time!"


	11. Invasion Of Body

_**NOTE: Another song, just so's ya know. Actually, this one's kind of short. And weird. And... condensed? I don't know. I'll upload another chapter soon enough! In the meantime, here's where the story REALLY kicks in!**_

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Sakura, Li, Tomoyo, Jimmy and Kero arrived at the park via Maya's magic powder. Once there, they wasted no time hurrying over to Sakura's house.

"Kero! Mail slot!" Sakura shouted as they were running. 

"I'm on it!" The doll replied as he flew over to the house and crawled through the mail slot.

Once inside the house, he unlocked the door and opened it just in time for Sakura and the others to hurry through. They all stopped in the living room to catch their breath, especially Jimmy.

"Lord have mercy. I haven't run that fast since we chased that Protestant outta my church." The preacher said.

Sakura and her friends looked at each other and shrugged. "Americans." Li simply said. "Go figure."

Just then, a very exhausted-looking Touya slouched his way down the stairs as a strange jumping noise was heard from a distance. Touya yawned then noticed his sister and her friends standing around in the living room.

"Oh. It's just you. And some old guy." He yawned again. "Okay." He turned around to head back to his room until the realization finally clicked. "Holy--! What the--!? Sakura!?" He struggled to speak as his energy somewhat returned.

"Touya, is everyone okay?" Sakura asked her brother.

"No! Everyone is miserable! _I'm _miserable!" He screamed.

Sakura suddenly feared the worst. "Oh my God, it's Faust. He's done something, hasn't he? What?"

"Faust hasn't done anything! It's that other you!" He started. "You know! The one you left behind to cover your ass!"

Sakura thought for a second then remembered. "The Mirror card!" She gasped.

"Uh-huh!" Touya nodded his head like a crazy person while biting his upper lip and his messy hair and baggy eyes came into view.

The jumping noise stopped and a loud crash was heard. The Sakura clone then came running downstairs, wearing a chocolate stained yellow jumpsuit, a pirate hat made out of a newspaper, tons of candy jewelry and a very poorly executed make-up job with lipstick smeared all over her mouth.

"Mirror?" A very disturbed Sakura asked.

"Welcome back, mistress!" She said as she jittered a bit. "Guess what? I like coffee!"

Sakura closed her eyes, balled up her fist and started to shake it. "Oh no..."

Touya knew he was in trouble. "Okay, I know you're gonna get mad but--"

"Oh, _hell_ no!" She butted in. "You gave her coffee?"

"Only a little bit." He said in a soft voice.

"What's wrong with that?" Li asked.

Sakura pointed at her clone with a maniacal grin. "_That's_ what's wrong. The cards can't have too much caffeine or sugar or they go crazy."

"I didn't know that." Kero said.

"Trust me. It's bad. Really, really bad." She said through her teeth.

"Well, what about the Sweet card?" Tomoyo thought aloud.

"You mean this?" Sakura said as she pulled the card out.

The spirit suddenly projected itself from its card form, cross-eyed and drooling like a fountain. "Beans! I've run out of beans!" It simply yelled.

"All right, that's enough out of you!" Sakura said as she put the card back with the rest.

"Wait a minute. You were able to summon the Sweet card." Li pointed out.

Sakura was surprised herself and thought for a second. "You're right. How did I do that?"

"Uh, excuse me..." Jimmy started. "But what exactly did you bring me here for? Everything seems to be normal."

"You call _that_ normal?" Sakura pointed at her clone.

The other Sakura turned on the TV and started to slobber all over it. "Jimmy Carter tastes like peanuts!" She exclaimed.

Touya groaned. "All weekend that thing's been bothering me. I'm only glad dad went out of town when _you_ did."

"When's he coming back?" She asked.

"This Friday." Her brother answered.

"Today's Monday. That gives us almost a week to get things going." Li said.

Sakura nodded. "Where's Yuki?"

Touya's eyes widened as he started to shudder. "He's in my room. _Moping_."

"I have to talk to him." She started for the stairs but Touya held her back.

"Oh, trust me." He said. "You do _not_ want to go up there!"

"Why not?" She asked.

« « « IN TOUYA'S ROOM » » »

"Oh..."

"..My..."

"...God."

Were the words that came out of Sakura's, Tomoyo's and Li's mouths in that order. Why? Because lying on Touya's bed was a very large, bloated, triple-chinned Yukito with fingers the size of sausages. And not those lil' smokey kinds of sausages. We're talking Jimmy Dean size! I don't know if that's possible but hey! It's an anime! Work with me here, people!

"What unspeakable evil has cast this spell on you, son?" Jimmy asked Yukito.

"Judging by the trash? I'd say Twinkies, pizza, candy and those yellow marshmallow things nobody likes getting at Easter." Li said after looking at the piles and piles of trash surrounding Yuki.

"Hi, guys..." Yuki burped as a bit of drool dripped from his chocolate smeared mouth. His cheeks had gotten so big that his glasses were no longer clamped to his ears.

"Did you know he kept a secret stash of junk food in my room?" Touya asked his sister. "A stash. In _my _room!"

Sakura laughed awkwardly and stepped around the trash to get to Yuki. "Yuki? I need to speak to Yue."

"Do I have to? I'm kind of comfortable here." The fat man moaned.

Sakura nodded her head. "Yes. It's important."

"Okay." Yuki closed his eyes and began the transformation. He then noticed the wings were struggling to fold themselves over his large torso and Yue's voice kept ringing in his head saying, "Suck it in, man!" Yukito sighed and tried again, Yue's suggestion in mind. When he transformed, everyone was shocked to find that Yue was even fatter than Yukito.

"Is he supposed to look like that?" Jimmy freaked.

"No! He's not!" Kero shouted. "Yue! What happened?"

Yue tried to speak but his mouth kept spewing out food in large chunks, spilling it all over his robe and on the floor.

Sakura was completely disgusted. "Oh, God! Take him away! Take him away!" She squirmed as Yue returned to his borrowed form.

"That was the grossest thing I've ever seen." Tomoyo gagged.

"Don't tell me we came all the way over here for _this_." Jimmy said.

Sakura shook her head and sighed. "All this time. Wasted. I guess we should head back then."

"I don't think so." Touya said as he grabbed the bag of magic powder hanging from Sakura's neck and tossed it away.

"Touya!" Sakura yelled. "What are you doing!? We need that!"

Suddenly, Touya grabbed his sister by the throat and hurled her across the room. Li immediately ran to her side as Tomoyo and Jimmy backed away from the room.

"What the hell's gotten into you!?" Li shouted.

"Wouldn't _you _like to know?" Touya responded in a low, raspy voice. His eyes were now completely black and his expression was cold and menacing.

"Oh, this isn't good. Nope. Not good at all." Kero said.

"What's wrong with him?" Sakura asked.

"Touya's been possessed." The doll answered.

Li helped Sakura back on her feet and was puzzled by Touya's demonic appearance. "Why?" He asked.

"Faust is sending one of his cronies to do his dirty work, that's why!" The doll shouted as he dodged Touya's fist.

While Kero distracted him, Li snuck up on Sakura's brother and tried to put him in a headlock. The plan backfired, however, as Touya swung his head back and knocked Li to the bed, where he landed on Yukito's fat, greasy stomach, face first.

"Oh, dear God!" Li said as he quickly removed himself from Yukito's flab. "I always knew your brother was evil, Sakura! But God _damn_!"

Tomoyo took out her camera and started filming, unafraid of what was going on. "Oh, good! I haven't filmed in days! Smile for the camera, Touya! Thank you!"

Touya growled as he turned his head towards the girl, prompting Jimmy to pull her away. The preacher man then smiled nervously as he reached for the doorknob. "Well, this has been fun. I think I'll catch you kids later, okay?"

Touya rushed towards Jimmy and put his hands on his neck, attempting to choke him. However, something caused Touya to let go immediately as he screamed in pain. Kero hovered around Touya and noticed his hands were burning.

"Jimmy, what did you do?" Kero asked.

"Nothing." The preacher man was as confused as the others.

Sakura suddenly got an idea. "Jimmy! Why don't you perform one of your faith healing rituals!?"

Jimmy shook his head. "What, are you crazy! That's simple faith healing! What we need is an exorcism and I ain't no exorcist!"

Touya got angry and started moving things around with his mind as his eyes rolled back and his breath drew cold air. Tomoyo then shut off her camera and hurried over to Li for protection.

"Okay, I've seen this movie! And if he starts projectile vomiting or spinning his head around, I'm definitely leaving!" She said as the room started to shake.

"Sakura! Use a card!" Kero shouted.

Sakura closed her eyes and tried to focus her energy when a chair suddenly crashed onto her. She got back up but was too dazed to try again. Yukito remained on the bed, too fat to move and too lazy to care.

Touya's possession had gotten so powerful, that the entire house was beginning to lift. Objects in every room were now flying everywhere as Sakura and her friends tried to hold their ground.

"Jimmy!" Sakura screamed across the room. "We need you!"

The preacher man looked at all the chaos around him and hesitantly nodded. He reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out small bible.

"You'd think it was a gun the way you church types carry those things around!" Tomoyo joked in the midst of all this.

The house was levitating higher and higher, its contents flying all over the place. People in the neighborhood were starting to notice the strange occurrence as they fearfully watched from their own houses.

Jimmy fought against the strong wind current emanating from Touya with his bible in hand. As Touya remained in a catatonic state, unleashing his demon magic, Jimmy started to read from his book, practically shouting over the noise.

"Dear Lord, Deliver this man from the evil which has been bestowed upon him! An agent of Beelzebub hath betrayed a sheep from your flock and taken full possession of his mortal coil!" The preacher started. "Child of darkness! Child of Lucifer!"

Touya opened his eyes and released an even more powerful gust of wind, forcing the house to go up even higher.

Sakura noticed Jimmy was struggling to recite the ritual as she hung on to the bedpost. "Jimmy!" She shouted. "What's wrong?"

"I..." The man was confused. "I can't do it without a psalm! I need music!" 

"What!?" Everyone shouted.

"It's supposed to heal the tension in the room and help provoke the demon's departure!" He explained. "Without it, it's just another exorcism!" 

"Well, what are we supposed to do!?" Tomoyo asked as she hung on to Li, who was holding on to the other side of the bedpost.

"I need you to sing!" He yelled.

"I don't know any psalms!" Tomoyo panicked. She then turned to Li. "Do you?"

He shook his head. "No. Sakura?" 

Sakura looked down. "No."

"Look, it can be anything! Just sing something cheerful while I cast this sucker out of your brother's body!" Jimmy pleaded.

There was a long and terrifying silence from everyone as Touya's demonic intruder continued hurling everything in sight.

Suddenly, Li started to sing softly. "_Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight  
gonna grab some afternoon delight."_

Another pause as Tomoyo and Sakura gave Li a strange look. Li motioned for them to join in and continued. _"My motto's always been; when it's right, it's right. Why wait until the middle of a cold dark night?"_

Yet another pause until Tomoyo and Sakura joined in with Li. "_When everything's a little clearer in the light of day. And you know the night is always gonna be there any way."_

The preacher smiled. "Keep singing!" He then reopened the book and continued reading. "Accept our Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and you shall not be forsaken!"

Touya hissed as Sakura, Li and Tomoyo sang some more. "_Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Afternoon delight."_

The Song card suddenly activated itself and started playing the music along to the trio's soothing lyrics. They continued again.

_Started out this morning feeling so polite_

_  
I always thought a fish could not be caught who wouldn't bite. _

_But you've got some bait a-waitin' _

_and I think I might try nibbling a little afternoon delight._

"I want you to feel the love Jesus has for you and cast out the evil that's plagued you so!" The preacher said as the house continued moving. "I command whatever demon is inside you to release its grip on you! It does not control you! _You_ control you!"

The demon within Touya started to growl as it felt the effects of Corin's faith healing magic. _"Is vas est mei own! Licentia mihi exsisto!" _Touya's raspy voice growled.

"Cast out the demon and save yourself, Touya Kinomoto! Cast him out and keep him out! The light will prevail over the darkness! Free yourself!" Jimmy fought back as the Song card continued playing alongside Sakura and her friends.

_Sky rockets in flight. _

_Afternoon delight. _

_Afternoon delight._

Touya fell to the floor as the entire house and everything afloat suddenly paused. Jimmy continued praying. "Release him from your grasp, demon! Return to the fiery pits of hell from whence you came and leave this family alone! In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior! I command you to leave this place at once!"

The demonic spirit began to wail out in pain as Sakura, Li and Tomoyo continued singing along, nervous and a bit confused.

_Please be waiting for me baby when I come around._

_  
We could make a lot of lovin' before the sun goes down._

Sky rockets in flight. 

_Afternoon delight. _

_Afternoon delight._

The demon growled its last growl as it escaped from Touya's body and shot straight for Jimmy.

"Jimmy, watch out!" Kero called out to him.

"Can I get an amen?" He asked.

"Amen!" Everyone yelled, causing the demon to shrivel up and explode into a flash of light.

The house then fell back to the ground, its contents taking a turn for the worse. The impact of the fall caused everyone to shoot across the room, except Yuki's fat ass, who still remained on the bed. After a while, when the dust had settled, Sakura walked over to her brother and helped him up on his feet.

"Touya? Are you all right?" She asked him.

Touya groaned as he massaged his head and rubbed his eyes. "What happened?" He looked around and noticed the mess. "What did you do, Sakura?"

"What did _I _do!?" She snapped. "This is _your_ mess, not mine!" She said as she slapped her brother in the back of the head.

"You okay, Jimmy?" Tomoyo asked him.

"Oh, I'm fine." The preacher said with a smile. "I kick ass on the Lord's side!"

"Looks like Faust wants to play dirty." Kero said as Li looked out the window.

"Oh no." He started. "The whole neighborhood saw. There's no way we can hide from this."

"Sure we can." Sakura said. "I'll just use the Erase card to alter some memories and we'll be out of here in no time." 

"Can you do that?" Li asked.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. I think I know how to do it now. It's going to take a little time but I think I've got it."

"Well, you know we have plenty of time." Tomoyo said as she picked up the empty bag, where Maya's magic powder had been kept.

"You mean we're stuck here?" Kero worried.

"Not for long, Kero." Sakura said with an optimistic grin. "Faust may have stranded us here but if I'm right, then the army should be ready for anything he tries to throw at them."

"What now?" Touya asked.

"Now?" Sakura thought for a second. "I'm going to work on getting the neighborhood's memory erased. _Your_ job is to get Yuki back in shape."

"Round is a shape." Yuki said as he let one off.

Everyone in the room covered their faces, afraid to breathe in Yuki's powerful gas bomb. Kero, unfortunately, was too slow and dropped to the floor like a dead fly.

Sakura looked down on the doll, who was beginning to twitch. "Hmm. Out cold."


	12. Learning To Fly

**_NOTE: Another song chapter. Deal with it. I've got things to do, chapters to type, games to watch and people to scrub... Yeah, I probably shouldn't have mentioned that last one. Sorry._**

CHAPTER TWELVE

That very night, after every onlooker's memory had been altered, Sakura stood alone in her room, looking out the window. The night was clear and the moon was full. She hadn't sensed any danger since Touya's possession. Her eyes were closed as she was continuing with her training. She could feel her magic getting stronger little by little but she knew she still had a long way to go. Her cards were floating all around her, glowing with their magic aura.

Suddenly, there was a knock on her door. "Come in." She answered, surprised to see Jimmy walking in.

"You okay, kid?" He asked her.

She nodded and smiled. "Yes. Thank you. For everything."

"No problem."

"Now do you believe me?"

He hesitated then finally nodded. "So what now? How do we get back to England?"

Sakura sighed. "I'm still working on it."

Kero flew inside the room and rested himself on the dresser. "How's it coming along?" He asked her.

"Slow. But I think I'm making some progress." She said as she held out one of the cards.

Kero then got an idea. "Hey, have you thought about using the Fly card?"

"For what?" She asked.

"The Fly is the first card you ever captured, right?"

Sakura thought for a moment then nodded. "Yeah. So?"

"Well, what if you work your connection with that one first? You know, that way if you're successful, the others won't be so hard." He said.

"How do you figure _that_ out?" Jimmy butt in.

"Capturing the Fly card was hard for her, seeing as she was still a rookie at the time. Since then, the Fly card has always been there for Sakura and has developed a special bond with her." The doll explained. "If you can become one with the Fly, you can become one with any of the cards."

"But what does that mean?" Sakura was confused. "Become one with the cards? I don't get it. I thought I already _was_ one with the cards."

Jimmy shrugged. "What if that Clow Reed feller meant it in a literal sense?"

The thought struck Sakura like a bolt of lightning. "You mean...? Actually become _one _with the cards?" She grinned. "That's it, isn't it?" She looked at Kero and Jimmy. "Come on, let's go."

Kero followed Sakura and Jimmy out the door. "Where are we going?" He asked.

« « « A SMALL FARMING COMMUNITY IN EUROPE » » »

An old farmer and his dog were herding up the sheep and loading them into their truck when a sound of thunder frightened them all. The old man ordered his dog to get them back before the rain started to come down.

The body of water at the edge of the island was beginning to rise higher than the man had ever seen it rise before. He looked down the hill where he was standing on and gasped at what he saw.

Hundreds of demonic beings armed to the teeth with swords, knives, shields and other medieval weaponry surfaced from the water, growling under their breath. Their eyes were glowing red and their scaly, grayish-brown skin throbbed from the fire that brewed within them.

The old farmer panicked and gathered as much of the flock as he could get into the truck then headed inside the vehicle. He started the engine when he noticed his dog was missing. He looked out the window and saw it barking at the demon army as they made their way up the cliff.

"Seamus!" The old man cried out to his dog. "Seamus, come to the truck!"

Suddenly, a cloud of smoke formed around the dog and from it appeared Faust, wearing his suit of black and armed with his dragon saber. He looked at the dog and smiled. "Well, hello there." He said.

The old man was too scared to do anything but watch as the Dark Lord picked up the dog and started petting it. "Is this your dog?" Faust asked the man.

The farmer nodded and replied with a stutter, "Y-yes..."

Faust approached the vehicle and placed the dog inside with the old man. "Here you go. Have a nice day."

Faust banged the rear of the truck, signaling the farmer to drive away. As he did, Faust's army eventually made it to the top of the hill and gathered behind their master. The Dark Lord watched the truck drive away with a sinister grin on his face.

"Let's have some fun." He said as he raised his hand into the air. "_Electro!"_

A bolt of lightning fell from the sky and destroyed the truck and everything in it, causing the demon army to roar in approval for their master. Faust turned to his creatures and motioned them to do their thing.

"You boys don't stay out too late." He said as they all ran into town, destroying everything in sight and killing everyone around. Faust whistled and in an instant, several of his dragons swooped down from the skies and added more damage to the small village.

Further into town, Faust walked along the destruction and saw many people getting killed. Children were crying over their parents' dead bodies as sheep and cattle were braying in the stables. A farmer with a gun hurried out of his house and pointed a rifle at the Dark Lord.

"A gun? Foolish human." Faust raised his hand and disintegrated the weapon with a blink of an eye. He levitated the man towards him and grabbed a hold of his neck. "Bring me all the children in your village and I will spare your life."

« « « AND NOW... BACK TO OUR FRIENDS IN TOMOEDA! OH, AND LOOKIE HERE! I FOUND A SONG TO GO ALONG WITH IT! YAY, SONG! BULLY! » » »

Li, Tomoyo, Jimmy and Kero were all standing on the track field outside the school. They were all watching Sakura as she placed the Fly card to her chest. She closed her eyes and began to focus her magic.

"You can do this, Sakura. I know you can." Li said in a quiet voice.

Sakura's eyes remained shut as she held the card close. "Give me the power to fly again." She whispered to it.

_§ Well I started out down a dirty road._

_Started out all alone._

_And the sun went down as I crossed the hill._

_And the town lit up, the world got still. §_

The card began to glow as a gust of wind blew in, causing the others to shield their eyes from the dirt. Sakura remained still as she could feel the Fly card trying to communicate with her.

"That's it. Listen to me." She told it.

_§ I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings._

_Coming down is the hardest thing.§_

As the wind died down, Li and the others were surprised to see Sakura actually beginning to levitate from the air. She was slowly rising but Sakura kept her eyes shut, trying not to break contact with the card.

"She's doing it. She's actually doing it." A surprised Tomoyo said.

"She's not flying yet." Kero started. "But she's getting there."

_§ Well the good ol' days may not return._

_And the rocks might melt and the sea may burn._

_I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings._

_Coming down is the hardest thing. §_

Sakura eventually made the full ascent into the sky, away from the school and away from her friends. Her mind, however, was still focused on the card. She had no idea she was actually hovering above her beloved city.

Back on the ground, Tomoyo had her camera aimed at Sakura but she was hardly able to get any good footage. "This is amazing." She said to herself.

"Has she done it yet?" Li asked Kero.

The doll shrugged. "It's hard to tell. She's too far up."

"Why don't you go up there with her?" Jimmy suggested.

Kero shook his head. "No, it's too risky. I might cause some sort of interference."

_§ Well some say life will beat you down._

_Break your heart, steal your crown._

_So I've started out for God knows where._

_I guess I'll know when I get there. §_

Sakura had now arisen above the clouds and found a stopping place. The Fly card suddenly glowed even brighter as it formed itself into a beam of energy and merged inside of Sakura's body.

The magical impact caused Sakura to open her eyes, where she saw herself hovering above the school, above the city and above the clouds. She noticed the Fly card was no longer in her hands but she could feel its presence within her.

"I did it." She said with a smile.

She moved her arms and legs around to make sure she was actually doing this on her own. Once satisfied, she looked down on the clouds and shot her body right through them.

_§ I'm learning to fly, around the clouds._

_But what goes up must come down. §_

Sakura was now flying around the clouds, over, under and through at a speed she never encountered before. She noticed the school where her friends were waiting and decided to show them her new abilities.

Li looked up at something in the sky with a puzzled look. "Is that her?"

"I don't know. I can't really get a good glimpse." Tomoyo said with her camera in hand.

"What's that sound?" Jimmy asked

They all started to hear a low, thundering noise as the flying object got closer. In a matter of seconds, Sakura flew right past the group with a booming sound that caused them to jump.

"It _is_ Sakura! She did it!" Li exclaimed.

_§ I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings._

_Coming down is the hardest thing._

_I'm learning to fly, around the clouds._

_But what goes up must come down._

_I'm learning to fly._

_I'm learning to fly. §_

Sakura slowly made her descent back to the ground and greeted her friends with a smile. "I'm back!" She giggled.

"But where are your wings?" Li asked.

Sakura shook her head as she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend. "I don't need them anymore."

"So how do we get back to Eriol and the others?" Jimmy asked Sakura.

"Well, you know..." Tomoyo butted in. "We could just take Nakuru's suggestion and get ourselves a jet."

**_NEXT CHAPTER: The 3rd Symbol is revealed! _**

**_PLUS: The moment you've all been waiting for! The story of the Weenie Man!_**


	13. Weenie Man Exposed

**_NOTE: Sorry if this chapter seems a little rushed. I just REALLY wanna get to the good parts as soon as possible. We're almost there, people. Hang on!_**

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The next morning found Tomoyo heading back to her house to find a way to commandeer one of her mom's private jets and a pilot to go along with it. Li was in his home, packing a few extra things he might need, including a mysterious long, wooden casing.

In Sakura's home, Jimmy finished the breakfast Sakura had made for him and thanked the young girl as she came downstairs with a new attitude in her. Kero was close behind, pudding cup in hand.

"Thanks for breakfast. You're good, y'know. I don't think I've ever pigged out like that before." The preacher complimented.

Sakura blushed as she smiled. "Oh, you're welcome." Then there was a knock at the door to which Sakura responded, "It's open!"

Li entered the house with the wooden case strapped to his back and set it down on the couch. "Are we all set now?"

Sakura shook her head. "No. Tomoyo's still trying to get us a plane."

Suddenly her cell phone rang. Sakura answered when she heard Tomoyo's voice screaming from the other end. "We've got a problem! Meet me at the house now!"

Sakura could hear a strange noise coming from behind Tomoyo's voice. "Wait. Where are you? What's that noise and why are you screaming?"

"I'm at the airfield! Just meet me at the house!" Tomoyo's voice fought over the noise as she hang up.

"Oh, what now?" Kero groaned.

¬¬¬¬¬¬ TOMOYO'S HOUSE. LIVING ROOM. NO, KITCHEN. NO, WAIT. LIVING ROOM. LIVING ROOM? YEAH, OKAY. FINE... HOW DO YOU WORK THIS THING? UHH... ACTION! ¬¬¬¬¬¬

"What do you mean you can't get clearance!?" Tomoyo shouted as she was speaking through the phone. She sighed and finally hung up.

"Well?" Kero asked.

"Mom made sure when she left that no one is to take the jets out of the airfield unless it was an emergency." Tomoyo explained.

"This _is _an emergency!" Kero shouted

Tomoyo nodded but was unsure of what to do. "Well, what am I supposed to say? 'Hi, mom! Can we borrow a jet? We need to save the world from this mean guy who can control demons! Oh, and by the way! We're starting an army!' She'd lock me up in Demented Hills in a heartbeat!"

"Demented Hills? Isn't that the loony bin old people go when they lose touch with reality?" Li asked.

Tomoyo nodded. "The same."

"Don't you have a card that can get us back?" Jimmy asked Sakura.

"No." Sakura slowly shook her head.

"Why don't we just take a break to clear our heads until we can come up with something?" Kero suggested.

"We're running out of time, Kero. Who knows what Faust is planning while we're wasting time here?" Sakura said to him.

The doll nodded and sighed. "Yeah. I know. But what other choice do we have?"

Moments later, Sakura and Li found themselves walking down the neighborhood hand in hand as they tried to come up with a plan. Tomoyo remained in her house, miserable and depressed over their current situation while Jimmy and Kero watched Touya get Yukito back into shape.

The guardian and preacher made the training more difficult for Yukito as they held in their hand a full gallon of ice cream, which came into view every time he did a sit-up. This, of course, really pissed off Yuki but brought a smile to Touya's face.

¬¬¬¬ AND NOW... THE NOT-SO-SHOCKING-IRRELEVANT TO THE STORY-WEENIE MAN REVELATION THINGY I PROMISED EARLIER ¬¬¬

As they passed a few houses in the neighborhood, Sakura and Li suddenly noticed a small gathering at a nearby residence.

"Isn't that Takashi's house?" Li asked.

Sakura squinted her eyes and nodded. "Yeah. It is."

"Looks like they're having a party or something." Li guessed.

Just then, Chiharu and Rika ran out of the house covered in confetti and egg shells. The sound of screaming children and crying babies could be heard from the inside of the house.

"They've gotten worse..." An out of breath Chiharu said to her friend.

Rika nodded as she removed some of the egg yolk from her hair. "And that magician isn't helping very much." She then noticed Sakura and Li standing across the street. "Sakura?"

Sakura shyly waved. "Hi."

The two girls crossed the street and greeted their old friends. "I thought you were in England." Chiharu pointed out.

"We were. But now we're back." Sakura nervously chuckled.

"What's going on here? Why are you covered in egg and confetti?" Li asked them, trying to hold back a teasing snicker. (No, not a candy. A laugh.)

"Takashi's little cousin is having a birthday party and unfortunately the only people on the guest list aren't even potty trained yet." Rika explained.

Li shuddered. "It's that bad, huh?"

"What are you using for entertainment?" Sakura asked.

Just then, a giant hot dog ran out of the house and called out to the girls. "Hey! I need backup in here!"

The hot dog happened to catch Li's attention as he suddenly remembered the personal vendetta he began not too long ago. "The... the weenie man." Li said under his breath as he balled up his fist.

Sakura noticed this as she slowly backed away. "Uh-oh."

Li took out the piece of yellow fabric from his pocket and held it up, studying its design with that of the hot dog standing across the street from him. Li then noticed a patch of yellow cloth missing from the hot dog's squiggly mustard design.

"It's you again!" He shouted at the weenie man.

The weenie man recognized Li's face and attempted to hurry back into the house but the screaming children inside caused him to stop dead in his tracks. Li then ran across the street and grabbed the weenie man by the buns and threw him to the floor.

"You beat me up, embarrassed me in front of my girl and now you've come back to do it again? Oh, _hell_ no!" Li said as he looked down on the giant hot dog.

"What? Did I miss something?" A confused Chiharu asked.

Li nodded. "Oh, you should have seen it! It was hilarious!" He started. "One day, Sakura and I were just walking along the neighborhood when this idiot here pops out of nowhere and bumps right into me! And what does he do? Nothing! He doesn't even look back, apologize or even say anything for that matter!"

The hot dog started to squirm as Li kicked him right in the ketchup packet. "I confronted him and demanded an apology but what does he do? He just looks at me and headbutts me with that enormous weenie head of his! Then he kicks me in the groin and runs away like a little girl!"

The girls took it as an insult as they said, "Hey!" in unison.

Li chuckled a bit. "Oh. Sorry." He then put his foot on the hot dog, choking him with the tip of his shoe. "Now that I have you, I'm not going to let you out of my sight!"

Chiharu attempted to stop Li from doing anything rash. "Li, I think you'd better--"

"Not now! I'm on a rant here!" He interrupted her.

She tried again. "No, Li! Listen! You don't understand! It's--"

"Quiet, woman! I'm doing stuff!" He interrupted again as he kneeled down before the struggling hot dog.

"Li, please listen to me!" Chiharu pleaded once more.

Li ignored her as he placed his hand in the back of the hot dog's head. "Let's see who's behind the mask." In an instant, Li pulled the mask away and was shocked to find who was behind it the whole time.

"T-Takashi?" Li stuttered as he stood up and backed away. "_You _beat me up? But why? How?"

Takashi sighed. "Look, man. It's all part of a gig I do. You just happened to catch me on a bad day. That's all."

Li was now at a loss for words as well as Sakura. Just then, a panicky looking man ran out of the house with Naoko right behind him. They were also covered in filth.

"The magician you hired sucks, Takashi!" Naoko griped. She then noticed Takashi lying on the ground, his mask removed and Li frozen in place.

The magician jittered a bit then said, "Uh, look. Why don't I just head on out? You don't have to worry about paying me."

For some reason, the magician seemed familiar to Sakura but she couldn't quite place him. "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" She asked him.

The man was obviously American, seeing as he had no idea what Sakura just asked him. "Oh, jeez. I gotta stop taking my act on the road and just stick to Jersey." He thought of something to say to her. "Uhh... _Domo arigato_? Uhh... _Mr. Roboto_?"

Sakura and her friends just looked at the man with an uneasy stare as he struggled to find something else to say. The magician stuttered out some more botched Japanese. "Oh, God. Uhh..._ Koh-nee-chee-wah?"_

"Hey, moron. Do you speak English?" Li finally asked the man in his native tongue.

The nervous magician sighed and nodded. "Oh, thanks very much. I'll just get my things and go." The magician headed back inside the house as Li helped Takashi back on his feet.

"Sorry." Li said to his friend.

"Yeah. Me too." Takashi replied.

Naoko sighed with relief. "Now you two hug it out."

The two boys quickly glanced at her with an ugly stare. She giggled. "Just kidding."

The magician then came back out of the house again, dragging a trunk behind him and displaying a very unsatisfied frown on his face. "Oh well. I guess them's the brakes."

"What did you do to get them all riled up?" Sakura asked the man.

"Oh, I did a few simple magic tricks to get them to settle down. Y'know, the pigeon out of the sleeve trick, the rabbit out of the hat, the magic door. Kid stuff." He explained. "Then when that didn't work, I decided to use a trick I've been working on. But it still wasn't enough."

"What kind of trick?" Sakura now found herself curious.

"I call it my Ring Of Fire!" The magician proudly exclaimed.

It was now Sakura's turn to freeze in place as her jaw dropped wide open. "D-did you say ring of fire?" She asked him.

The magician nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

Li's face lit up as he suddenly realized the situation. "You're the 3rd symbol."

"I'm the what?" The New Jersey native was confused.

Sakura then came to another realization. "Wait a minute. Now I know where I remember you. You were at the gathering, weren't you?"

"Gathering?" The magician was now playing dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Sakura wasn't fooled. "Oh no?" She grabbed the man's trunk and turned it around, revealing the words: MARVIN THE MAGNIFICENT written in plain view.

"I think you know _exactly_ what I'm talking about."

Takashi, Chiharu, Naoko and Rika stood in place, wondering what was going on. The nervous magician was also a bit confused, unaware of what kind of role he was about to play.

"Are you done with Marvin?" Sakura asked Takashi, who wasted no time in nodding his head.

"Could I borrow him?"

The boy shrugged then nodded again. "Yeah. I guess."

"Wait, borrow me? Do I look like a jacket to you or something?" The American protested.

"You have fun with your party." Sakura told her friends as she and Li pulled the magician away and headed back for Tomoyo's house.

"Wait! Don't you want to stay?" Takashi called back to them.

Li shook his head. "Can't, man. We've got things to do."

"Where are we going?" Marvin asked.

"To a friend's house." Sakura started to explain. "And after that, you'll soon join the rest of our army."

"Army?" The man's eyes widened. "Just five minutes ago I was entertaining a bunch of preschoolers and now I'm being shipped off to war against my will!?"

"Believe me. This isn't just some other war. It's unlike anything you've ever seen before." She told him. "We're not fighting for any political cause here."

"Then what?"

Sakura said with a serious look on her face, "We're fighting for our right to live."


	14. Heading Back

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Back in Tomoyo's house, after Sakura had explained everything to Marvin, the team was now ready to head back to London. But how to do it? Li paced back and forth while Sakura and Tomoyo thought to themselves. Jimmy and Kero, meanwhile, were busy duct-taping Marvin to a chair so he wouldn't escape.

After a while, Li suddenly got an idea. "Okay, so you say your mom's at a meeting right now in Tokyo?" He asked Tomoyo.

"Yes." She answered. "But she's due in Hong Kong for a workshop afterwards."

"All right, do you have the number of the company?" Tomoyo took out a slip of paper and handed it to Li. He looked at the number and grinned. "Can I use your phone?"

Tomoyo nodded and handed Li the receiver. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Li said as he began dialing a number. After a few seconds of ringing, a man on the other end answered. Li then started to talk in a deep voice. "Yes, this is Li Syaoran of Kero-Chan International. I'd like to speak with Ms. Daidouji, please. Thank you."

There was a long pause until Tomoyo's mother could be heard from the other end. "Yes?" She asked.

Li lowered his voice again. "Yes, I'm Li Syaoran and I represent Kero-Chan International".

Sonomi thought for a moment. "Li Syaoran. That name sounds familiar."

"Well, ma'am. It should. We recently purchased an order of 500,000 Ms. Pissy Pants dolls from your company and upon receiving the order, we learned that the dolls were severely defective."

"Defective?" Sonomi was confused.

"_Severely _defective. You see, we were to understand that the dolls would simply simulate an actual wetting of the diaper region by means of water as opposed to actual human urine." Li cleared his throat.

"You mean the dolls really pee?" She asked him.

Li nodded and continued over the phone. "Yes. And what's more, we found out that not only does the doll urinate, it defecates." He tried to hold back his laughter.

Sonomi was starting to doubt the situation. "All right, are you making stuff up?"

"No, ma'am. We are dead serious. If word gets out that these dolls were sold to us by your company, it could be bad for business. I suggest I should meet with you as soon as possible to fix this mess."

"That's a bit of a problem. I'm in Tokyo right now and after that, I'm heading for Hong Kong for a workshop seminar. Is there any chance we could meet there?"

"In Hong Kong? It'd be a waste of time, coming back and forth without knowing for sure things could be fixed. And believe me, I don't want to waste my time or manpower over something that isn't justified. We start selling these dolls in less than two weeks and if all the girls who've been holding out for a Ms. Pissy Pants doll this entire time don't receive one, they'll be calling _themselves_ Ms. Pissy Pants if you know what I mean!"

"All right! Okay! I'll tell you what... Why don't you use one of my company jets to take you wherever you need to go instead of wasting your own manpower?"

"I don't know. I'm not familiar with your personnel. Can I trust them?"

"All right, then. I'll send my daughter to escort you to the airfield and give instructions to the staff. They'll listen to her for sure."

"Very well."

"Could I have your number, please?"

"I'm sorry. I'm already spoken for." Li glanced over to Sakura with a grin.

"No, no. So I can contact you when everything's been set up."

"No need. I'm on my way to the airfield already. Just have your daughter waiting for me."

"Yes, of course." With that said, Sonomi hung up and allowed Li to burst out in a fit of laughter.

"Yes! We got it!" He exclaimed. "Now just wait for your mom to call and follow along with what she says."

"But who's gonna pose as... oh, wait. Never mind." Tomoyo realized Li used his own name but thought of another dilemma. "But they're not going to believe you're a representative of a major toy store."

Li grinned. "That's okay. They don't know what he looks like. If they're looking for an adult then they'll get an adult." Li then turned his attention over to Jimmy, who was finishing up on the duct tape.

"There. That ought to hold him." The preacher said as he noticed Li looking at him. "What? What's going on?"

¬¬¬¬ AT THE AIRFIELD ¬¬¬¬

One of Tomoyo's bodyguards was hurrying after the young girl as she and her friends were boarding the plane.

"Ms. Daidouji! Come back!" The man shouted. "You were only supposed to escort him to the plane, not go with him!"

Tomoyo opened up one of the windows and shouted over the roaring engines. "It's okay! I know what I'm doing!"

She closed the window and entered the cockpit to speak with the pilot. "Change of plans. We're going to London instead."

"London?" The pilot asked.

Tomoyo nodded. "Yeah. And once there, you can head back home. We'll be taking another jet from there. Okay?"

The pilot was skeptical. "Are you sure about this? It isn't like your mother to finalize her decisions then go back on them."

"Just trust me on this." She told the man as he worked the controls. "All right, then. You better sit back down, ma'am. We're about to take off."

"Thank you." She said as she took her seat next to Sakura.

Li and Jimmy were seated next to each other while Yuki and Touya were in another pair of seats. Marvin, however, was duct-taped yet again, to his own seat on the plane as Kero sat on the magician's lap and spoon-fed him pudding.

"I'm telling you, I'm not hungry!" The man pleaded.

"Just eat it!" Kero ordered him.

"Hey! If he won't eat it, _I_ will!" a slimmed-down Yuki suggested but Touya immediately smacked him in the back of the head. "Ow!"

"What did I tell you!? No sweets for a month!" He scolded his friend.

"How did you get him back to his normal weight in just two days?" Sakura asked her brother.

He just smiled and told her, "It's amazing what you can do with just a scalpel, some plastic tubing and a very powerful vacuum cleaner."

As the plane took off, Marvin could feel the turbulence building up thus causing him to become even more panicky than normal. "Hey, wait a minute! I don't like this!"

"Just calm down, son. It'll be all right." Jimmy tried to assure him.

Li held on to his special wooden case as it caught Sakura's attention. "What's in the case?" She asked him.

"It's something I've been wanting to use." He answered. "I haven't found a reason for it until now. And when the time is right, I'll unleash it before my enemies."

Sakura smiled as she looked out the window, watching the clouds pass by them. "We're coming, Eriol. Hang on." She said to herself.

¬¬¬¬ AND NOW WE RETURN TO LONDON TOWN... ¬¬¬¬

... Where Eriol and some members of Sakura's army were frantically moving along the mansion. Spinel flew across every room, carrying trays of tea, cookies and various other refreshments to nourish the growing army.

Just then, Sakura and her friends entered the den and saw everyone moving about the house in a panic. Eriol then descended from the top of the staircase and over to the balcony, where he saw his friends arrive.

"You're back!" He said.

Kaho and Nakuru came out of the living room and greeted their friends as Spinel continued doing his duties.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked.

"We've got ourselves a situation." Eriol answered. He then noticed Marvin, covered in duct tape from his head to his ankles, hopping around the room. "Who's that?" He asked.

"The 3rd symbol." Sakura answered "Now what's the problem?"

"I think you'd better come with me." He said.

Sakura, Li, Tomoyo, Kero, Jimmy, Touya, Yukito and Marvin followed Eriol, Nakuru and Kaho down the basement, where they found an entire computer lab completely set up with cameras and monitor screens. Mr. James Elliot Graham was already waiting for them as he and two of his men were observing one of the main computer monitors.

"What is this place?" Li asked.

"I decided to go high-tech a while back in case any strange magical occurrences should ever arise." Eriol answered.

"And you're just showing us this room _now_?" Sakura was surprised.

Eriol pointed out to the computer screen Graham and his men had been monitoring. It displayed a computerized map of what seemed to be central Europe.

"Faust has already begun his invasion in a small farming community in Poland. Several have been left dead but what's most disturbing is that a great deal of children are missing." Eriol began to explain.

"Children? Why children?" Li asked.

"If I'm right, then Faust is going around the globe, resurfacing the army Clow Reed scattered those many years ago. And the children that are being stolen along the way have some sort of role to play in all of this. I just don't know what yet." Eriol then clicked on a button, which displayed a picture of an old European prison.

"What is that?" Kero asked.

"Heidelberg Asylum." Kaho answered. "It's where Faust was imprisoned during his years as an outcast in the religious order. That's possibly where he began learning the Dark Arts."

"Is it still operational?" Sakura asked.

Eriol shook his head. "No. It's been abandoned for centuries. We have reason to believe Faust is using it as a camp for his army as he and some of his minions continue wreaking havoc along wherever the rest of his army may be."

"Those poor kids." Sakura thought aloud.

"We sent Maya and Liam over to the asylum to investigate but unfortunately they were captured. They're currently being held in the lower dungeon area, where we hope they're still alive." Eriol continued.

"Liam?" Tomoyo was now worried about the Irishman much to Eriol's dismay.

"We have to do something. We can't just leave them." Sakura started. "Is the army ready?"

"As ready as they'll ever be." Nakuru responded. "If you've got a plan, now's the time to let them in on it."

"Where are they?" Sakura asked.

"They're at the cathedral." Kaho answered.

Sakura then looked over to Li. "Are you ready for this?"

Li nodded. "Oh, yeah. I say we get our friends back and show Faust what we're made of."

Eriol smiled. "Excellent. It's a good thing I called in some extra help."

"Extra help?" Sakura asked.

Just then, a sliding door pulled open with a loud rattle. Sakura, Li and Tomoyo were surprised to see an old friend walk towards them with a familiar looking smirk.

"Meiling!?" The three shouted in unison.

The young girl smiled as she cracked her knuckles. "Well? Are we gonna stand around all day or kick some ass?"


	15. The War Begins

_**NOTE: Sorry for the long wait. I now bring you the 15th chapter in this epic storyline. More music to come and the 3 symbols will find their purpose in the next chapter. Hang on!**_

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

In the fields of Poland, the wind was blowing heavily as the sky darkened with smoke and ash from the damage Faust and his army had caused. Miles away, several towns were in the final stages of their destruction as the fires drew to a close. Hundreds of people were scattered throughout the ground, dead or dying.

Faust and his men were now approaching a cavern, where another ancient relic held a different part of his beloved army. As they entered the dark cave, Faust lit up the area with a flame emitting from the palm of his hand.

He looked over to his demon children and said to them, "Start looking."

The demons growled and hurdled through the cavern, tearing everything down with their massive strength as their master lit up the inside with his magic. Faust then felt a sudden chill in the air as he looked back but saw nothing but a grassy field and a dark sky.

He called out to his children, "Keep at it!"

¬¬¬¬¬ OUTSIDE HEIDELBERG ASYLUM... ¬¬¬¬¬

...Within a hidden part of the Polish countryside, eight of Faust's demon warriors stood guard as the rusty black gates at the front blew with the wind. Its creaking noise kept getting louder as the wind got faster until the two halves of the gate broke apart and flew straight into five of the demons, impaling them through the chest.

The remaining three looked confused as they felt the wind getting stronger and saw a flash of lightning crackle through the dark sky. "What's happening?" One of the demons growled.

Just then, a dark shadow cast itself upon the building and alarmed the three demons as they took out their weapons and growled. "Get the others! Quick!" Another demon shouted.

But before anything could happen, the shadow blanketed the three and emitted an electrical shock, frying their brains instantly. After the demons were killed, the shadow crawled away and revealed Sakura, whose eyes were glowing with a bright energy, with the Shadow and Thunder cards floating in front of her. She happened to be wearing her old yellow and gold outfit. The same one she wore the day she broke Eriol's spell and when Li confessed his love to her. She wore it now as a symbol to let Faust and his reign of evil know that she's here to fight.

As her eyes returned to normal, Li, Eriol and Meiling came running up to her from the gate entrance. Li poked the dead bodies with his sword and nodded. "Good one." He said as he placed the sword back into its holster. He hadn't worn his old battle robe in a while but it felt good to be back in it. It let him know that he and his friends were back in action.

"Showoff." Meiling joked as she looked up at the old building. "So your friends are in there?"

"I wouldn't exactly call them my friends..." Eriol started.

"You don't like Maya?" Meiling asked, knowing that it's Liam he can't stand.

"I... I like her just f-fine." The blue-eyed boy stuttered as he fiddled with the front flaps of his black robe. He was wearing pretty much the same battle outfit he always wore but without the hat.

Meiling was wearing a casual black and red outfit with a brown leather jacket and was fixing her hair up to avoid distraction when she asked Sakura, "So what now?"

"This is Cherry Blossom. Are you there, Bank?" Sakura asked through an earpiece she was wearing.

Back in England, Tomoyo and Kaho stood by the large monitor as Mr. Graham gave Sakura and her team directions to follow. Their progress was being monitored on the computer screen via heat signatures as well as Faust's demon army.

"Bank here. All right, Cherry Blossom. Listen up. Just go through the front door of the building and sneak your way past the guards, up the stairs and onto the first wing of the hospital. There should be a hidden doorway behind one of the walls." Graham was explaining over his own earpiece. "That doorway will lead to a descending staircase that will take you all the way down to the chamber area, where Clover and Blondie are being held. Understood?"

Sakura nodded and responded. "Understood, Bank. I'll maintain radio silence until further notice." With that said, she switched off her radio and looked over to her friends. "I'm going after them. You three keep in touch with Mr. Graham and find those children. Remember your code names."

"Why do we need code names?" Eriol asked.

"Because it sounds cooler if we use code names! Don't make me explain it to you again!" Sakura snapped.

"This isn't a game, Sakura! People's lives are in danger and you're--" Eriol started but was shushed by Sakura.

Eriol sighed. "Fine. Whatever."

"You ready?" Sakura asked her friends.

Li, Meiling and Eriol nodded as they switched on their own earpieces. Meiling then took out a pair of gloves from her coat pocket and slipped them on, cracking her knuckles afterwards. "God, I've been waiting a long time for this!" She exclaimed.

Sakura smiled. "Let's go."

The inside of the abandoned asylum was cold and dark, lit only by a few candles and torches. The majority of Faust's demon warriors were camped inside, sitting about and growling amongst themselves as they awaited their master's return. The dragons and loose spirits, however, were nowhere to be found as Sakura used the Shadow card to sneak right past them. Once she returned to her normal form, Sakura found herself at the top of the stairs and looked onward to a dimly lit hallway.

"This is Cherry Blossom." Sakura quietly said as she switched her radio back on. "I made it past the guards and I'm on my down the medical wing."

"Good work, Cherry Blossom. You know what to do." Graham responded as he and the others monitored from England.

"That's got to be a pretty strong radio connection for us to speak to them in Poland." Tomoyo commented.

The old accountant nodded. "I wasted no expense."

"You do a lot of high-tech sleuthing in accounting?" Tomoyo joked.

Graham spoke through his radio again. "All right, Little Wolf. It's your turn. Are you ready?"

Li was standing outside of the building and spoke into his earpiece, "I'm ready." He then sprinted along the front yard, tossing several ofudas onto the building surface, making sure they stuck. He spoke again. "This is Little Wolf. Magic slips are now in place. Awaiting further instructions from Bank."

Graham responded, "Just sit tight, Little Wolf. Are you there, Plum?"

Meiling crept along a different part of the asylum, away from any danger as she wore a pair of night vision sensors and spoke through her piece. "This is Plum. I'm strolling along the corridors. I don't see anything, Bank."

"Keep looking. The children have to be there somewhere." Graham pleaded.

Meiling nodded. "Okay. Little Bitch, are you there?"

Eriol stood atop of the asylum and responded. "Could I _please _get a different code name?"

"No!" Everyone answered through their radios.

Sakura hurried through the different rooms by fusing herself with the Through card and phasing through the walls. She then found herself in a darkened corner, where a staircase began to descend. "This is Cherry Blossom." She said through her radio. "I found the secret room. I'm on my way down to the chamber."

Kaho, Tomoyo and Graham examined the computer screen, which displayed two faint heat signatures in the chamber area.

"You should be all right. I'm only reading two signatures." The old man assured her.

Sakura nodded and made her way down the stairs. "Cherry Blossom to Little Bitch. No sudden moves until I get them, all right?"

Eriol nodded. "Right."

Along the corridors, Meiling noticed a small opening on one of the brick walls. She began to climb it and crawl through the space when she spoke through her earpiece. "Plum here.

I found a secret tunnel. I'm making my way through."

Outside the building, Li noticed a strange purple light emitting from the night sky. He then felt a sudden chill run down his body. "That doesn't look good." He said to himself.

Kaho, Tomoyo and Graham noticed several heat signatures suddenly appearing on the monitor. "They're coming out of nowhere. They'd better hurry." Kaho said to the old man.

Mr. Graham nodded and spoke to the team again. "Okay, listen up. You need to hurry. I fear something bad is about to happen and we can't waste any time."

"Is the army in position?" Sakura asked as she hurried down the stairway.

"Let's hope so." The old man replied.

Meiling finally made it through the tunnel and found herself in a whole other section of the asylum. "Jesus, how big _is_ this place?" She asked herself. She dusted herself off and noticed another pathway leading to yet another room.

"Plum to Bank. I found another room in the asylum. Still no sign of the kids." She said through the radio.

Just then, a small cry was heard coming from the path's direction, catching Meiling's attention immediately. The cry got louder as more and more faint voices joined in, prompting the young girl to go after them.

"This is Plum. I think I found them!" She said as she started to run down the path. She wasted no time hurrying down the hall and noticed an open doorway. She rushed in and was surprised to enter a large, round room where the children were being kept. They were chained to the building's hidden dome structure and encircled the entire area, much to Meiling's disgust.

"Oh, God..." She said to herself.

The children were slightly injured, tired, dirty and crying with fear. Meiling spoke through the radio again. "I found them, Bank."

Suddenly, the ground beneath Meiling started to shake. An enormous demon-like fist punched a hole through the surface and tore down an entire section of the dirt floor. A large demon with a raspy growl and black drool eyed Meiling as he approached her, pulling out a rusty saber. Soon, more and more of the demons crawled out of the hole and set their sights on the young girl.

"Oh, I don't like this..." Meiling said as she backed away from the creatures.

"Kill the human..." The leader said.

Meiling knew she was outnumbered but decided to hold her ground for as long as possible. "Okay." She started. "I can use a workout."

The demon leader swung his saber but Meiling back-flipped away just in time. She then twirled over to two of Faust's minions, grabbing their swords and stabbing them through the chest. Meiling held on to the weapons and used them to vault herself across the domed room, where she had time to call for backup.

"Plum to Cherry Blossom! I need backup now! Where are you?" She desperately called out to Sakura.

The demons hurried over to Meiling but an energy wave sent them flying back to their starting point. Sakura flew into the room and took out another magic card as she answered her friends call for help. "I'm right here."

"Thank God." Meiling sighed. "Where's..."

Maya and Liam came running in and attacked some of the demons with their magic. Liam unleashed an energy sphere and chanted something in Gaelic, releasing his energy towards the Dark Lord's minions.

Maya took out a small wand and calmly approached two of the husky creatures. One of them swung a blade at her but she quickly ducked and turned around, stabbing it in the eye with her wand. She then tilted her small tool and slit the creature's throat, killing it instantly. Next, she aimed it at her other opponent and chanted, "Power of ice, freeze the evil before you!" A blue ray of magic froze the demon, turning it into a sculpture of pure ice. The British girl charged towards the demon and kicked its head, shattering it in the process.

"Not bad, lass." Liam complimented the blond girl.

"Thanks. But I don't think we're done yet." The British girl pointed out to more of Faust's demons.

"Power!" Sakura shouted as she activated the magic card. She then swooped down and punched the demons through the walls of the room, immobilizing them. As she landed, Sakura looked around and noticed all the crying children.

"Faust, what have you done?" She asked in a sad whisper.

"Well, we can't just stand here. Let's get them out." Meiling told her.

Before a move could be made, a golden rod emerged from the ground and unleashed a familiar looking purple energy towards the children.

Graham and the others could see the energy readings on the screen. "Cherry Blossom, get out of there!" The old man ordered.

"We're not leaving them behind!" Sakura answered him as the dome started to shake. "Cherry Blossom to Little Bitch, begin weather emissions! Little Wolf, stand by!"

On the roof of the building, Eriol nodded as he unleashed his magic staff. "Key which hides the powers of the dark, surrender your true form before me. I, Eriol, command you under our contract. Release!" Once activated, Eriol focused his magic on the clouds and brought forth a powerful rain storm.

Li, who remained outside on the yard, shielded himself from the rain but was still getting drenched. He then shouted through his radio, "Hey! What's the matter with you!?"

"These particular demons don't like rain!" Eriol explained, trying to speak over the loud weather. "Is your trap ready?"

Li nodded as he pulled out his sword from the holster. "Oh, yeah."

Inside the asylum, the roof was starting to leak water onto the demon army, causing them to snarl in a panic. The rain kept on coming and coming until eventually, the entire ceiling collapsed, forcing them to run out the front door.

As they headed outside the building, Li stepped forth and held out his sword then chanted, "Emperor of Thunder, answer my call!" The magic ofudas spread all over the building then activated, electrocuting several of the demons.

Back inside the dome room, the children all vanished right before Sakura's eyes as the magic rod lowered itself back down. "Where did they go?" She asked.

"Wherever they are, I'm sure they're safe." Liam said.

"How do you know that?" Meiling asked the Irishman.

"It's obvious Faust needs them alive for something and that rod probably took them somewhere safe." He explained. "And by safe I mean somewhere where more of Faust's dirty looking bastard of an army is waiting for them."

Sakura hesitated then eventually gave in, trusting Liam's instincts. "Okay. Let's go." She spoke through her radio, "Little Wolf, are you there?"

Outside the rain started to die out as the remaining few demons had their brains fried. "I'm here. Everything's fine." Li answered.

"Not for long it isn't." Faust said as he appeared from within a flash of light. He looked at the pile of dead warriors and frowned. "Oh, dear. Every single one of them? Well, no matter. I've got some more friends I'd like you to meet."

Faust snapped his fingers and, from a cloud of smoke, revealed an even fiercer army of demons, complete with dark red skin and chipped horns. More and more of the gray-skins also emerged and armed themselves for battle.

"Well? What do you think?" The Dark Lord chuckled.

Just then, Sakura and the others approached the group and faced the evil menace. "Not bad. But I've got friends, too." Sakura said with a grin.

Faust chuckled again. "Oh, yes. Five magicians and one powerless human. That's quite a posse you have with you."

"You have no idea." Meiling said. "It's party time, people!" She called out as hundreds of magicians came running behind Sakura and her friends, led by Cerberus, Yue, Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun. The magic army armed themselves with whatever magical instruments they had. Suki, Davey Payne and Jimmy Corin were amongst those who were ready to fight and showed no signs of fear. Even Mr. Graham and Tomoyo had transported to the area and joined their friends. Tomoyo stepped back and switched her camera on, recording all of the action.

"You can't be serious!" The Dark Lord joked.

"You're right. This is all just one big joke. You want to hear the punch line?" A sarcastic Sakura asked.

"Get them!" Li shouted.

In several magical attacks ranging from electrical to elemental, half of Faust's men were pushed back and turned to ash. The Dark Lord was at a loss for words as the rest of his army charged towards Sakura's.

"Funny, isn't it?" Sakura teased.

The demons went at it with Sakura's magic army and were dropping like flies. One of the magicians, dressed in a black jumpsuit, combined his ninja skills with his magic abilities and took out three of the demons by means of fire. Another shattered a vial of potion and chanted something in Mongolian, causing the grass to grow and strangle several of his foes.

Davey Payne pulled out a blanket and draped it before him as two warriors approached him with their scythes. As the creatures swung, the illusionist vanished right before their eyes, causing them to decapitate each other. The celebrity then stepped out from behind a fighting pair and grinned. "You know, I really enjoy my work."

Suki quickly did a series of front-flips, dodging several arrows being unleashed from one of the demon's crossbows. She managed to obtain her opponent's weapon and charge it up with a magic force. She then tossed the weapon back to the demon just as it exploded, sending bits and pieces of red and black meat everywhere.

Tomoyo backed away, trying not to get hurt when one of the demons crept up behind her and raised an axe. Eriol noticed this and called out to his beloved. "Tomoyo! Behind you!"

Just then, Liam came to the girl's rescue and pulled her away, causing the creature to miss, smashing into another demon's head.

"You ought to be more careful, beautiful. It's not safe for someone as lovely as you." He told her, causing her to blush.

Eriol overheard this and called out to the Irishman. "Liam! Are you going to fight or flirt?"

Li rolled along the ground and stabbed one of the creatures as he looked over to Tomoyo. "Tomoyo, get back to the base! You're just getting in the way!"

Maya hurried over to her and drew out a magic circle with the powder, sending Tomoyo back to England.

Faust and Sakura eyeballed each other as both armies were finally going at it. Sakura then decided to break the ice and asked him, "What are you planning to do with those children?"

"You're a smart girl. Figure it out." Faust said to her.

Sakura insisted she get her answers. "It has something to do with your army, doesn't it?"

"If you only knew the full extent of my power. I could crush you like a bug. But right now I have bigger things to take care of. The final stage of my army is about to be unleashed and those children are the only key to their reemergence." He told her. "And once it's complete, your world will be no more. Just you wait and see..."

The Dark Lord and the remaining few of his army retreated, leaving behind the dead. Once they were gone, Sakura's army cheered over their first victory. Eriol and Sakura, however, still had their concerns.

"He'll bring more of them, you know." Eriol told Sakura. "He has a lot more than we know."

Sakura nodded. "But now he knows we're serious. He knows I'm not going down without a fight. If it's a war he wants, it's a war he'll get."

"What now, Sakura?" Suki asked.

The brown-haired girl looked back at the asylum and took out a card. "Let's get rid of this place. It's a piece of history that's better left forgotten."

And so, Sakura and her army marched along the grassy knoll as the building behind them started to explode. Their leader in the middle, her beloved to the right, her guide to the left of her and her newest allies all around displayed a satisfying look knowing that a dark link to the past was presently being erased from history. The war had begun.


	16. New Objectives

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Inside the rundown cathedral, Sakura's army gathered around their leader as she came up with their new plan. The green-eyed girl was now determined to put an end to this war as soon as possible.

"We were lucky this time." She started. "But we can't take any more chances. I'm going to divide you into different factions who will focus on the different skills we'll need to beat Faust's demon army. Wizards, sorcerers and mages will focus on simple, basic magic attacks to provide us with some much needed firepower. Combine your magic if you have to."

Suki stepped forward. "We've actually been working on something like that. Unfortunately, we haven't had much success."

Sakura acknowledged this and said, "Keep at it. I'm sure you'll get it right soon enough." She then turned her attention to another group of magicians. "Okay, chemists, your job is to provide us with several potions and elixirs that will be useful to us in any way. We're talking healing potions, strength enhancers and anything that can improve our accuracy strike."

A group of age-varying magicians nodded and continued listening to their leader as she went on. "All right, that leaves the enchanters." Sakura continued. "I want you to come up with some spells that can shield us from any surprise attacks Faust may have in store for us. There's no telling what kind of tricks he's got up his sleeve." She glanced over to her brother, who was standing amongst the crowd.

Sakura sighed and looked over her army again. "You understand what we have to do. Faust has to be taken out. All other concerns are secondary."

Everyone in the army gave each other a reassuring look and nodded at their leader. "We're with you all the way, card mistress!" A man said.

"We will not fail you." Another said.

A set of triplets, blond and Asian, bowed their heads before Sakura and said in unison, "We are at your service, Sakura-chan. May you lead us to victory." The sisters then took turns kissing her on her cheek

Sakura blushed for a moment then nervously giggled, "Okay..."

Hours later, the entire army was following their orders given to them. The offensive team continued working on focusing their magic while the defensive team worked on a safety perimeter.

In a secluded room away from the others, Sakura spoke with the three symbols. Pops, Jimmy and Marvin, who was still tied up against his will, were standing in front of Sakura as Eriol, Kaho and Mr. Graham stood behind.

"You three have a very large role to play in all of this." Sakura told them. "I didn't know exactly how until recently."

She walked over to Pops and smiled at him. "Pops." She started. "You're a witch doctor who can speak to the spirits of not only the living. But the dead as well. We'll need your gift to speak with those spirits."

"Any particular reason?" The man in white asked.

"We need to get a tactical advantage over Faust. He's using dead spirits to fill the quota of his demon army. They're like gasoline to an automobile." Sakura explained. "If you can break down the number of spirits in certain areas, we can track down the ones Faust will be going after next. Do you think you can do that?"

The African native bowed with a smile. "It would be my pleasure, young one."

Sakura then turned her attention to Jimmy. "Okay, Jimbo. Back home you saved my brother from being taken over by one of Faust's rogue demons. That was some nice work."

"Why, thank you." The preacher man said.

"Now I need you more than ever. Faust might try that same trick again and I need you to make sure no one gets possessed again." Sakura told the man. "You're a man of good principle and I know the divine powers you possess will serve us well. Are you up to it?" 

Jimmy nodded. "I'll bless every nook and cranny in this place even if it breaks my back."

Sakura smiled then looked over to Marvin as he was struggling through the duct tape chair. Sakura leaned over him but was unsure of what to say. "You're the only one I'm not certain about."

"What?" The entertainer started. "Then why did you kidnap me!?"

"Trust me, son." The preacher interrupted. "Don't fight it. It ain't no use."

Eriol then stepped forward. "Your role in all this remains unclear, Marvin. But I'm afraid we can't send you back home until we find out just what that role is."

Marvin jerked his head around and in a whiny voice said, "Okay. Okay, I'll join your army. I'll do whatever you want. Just let me out of this chair! Please!"

Sakura looked over to her friends, who were convinced with the man's decision. "Welcome to the team, Marvin." She said as she unleashed the Sword card and cut the man loose.

At the back of the church, Tomoyo sat down and watched Meiling and Li spar with each other as Kero and Yuki pigged out on a basket of sweets. The young girl paid close attention to the cousins as they tried every martial arts trick they knew on each other. She sighed as Kero approached her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked with a full mouth.

"Oh, nothing. I'm fine." She told him with a fake smile. But deep down something _was _wrong.

Jimmy took out his bible and began going around the cathedral, praying and blessing the various rooms and religious objects that were visible. Marvin, meanwhile, hung around and watched Suki, Liam and Maya as they helped train a few novice magicians with their magic attacks.

Near the altar, the chemists gathered around Pops as he showed them a few tricks of his own. He started out by placing a framed collage of various pictures and ancient symbols on top of the podium then went over to a small record player, where he switched it on.

The voodoo witch doctor then placed his hands in a bowl of red sand and lit a few candles. "Divine Order, take charge of my life today and every day." He prayed. "All things work together for good for me today. This is a new and wonderful day for me. There will never be another one like this one. I'm divinely guided all day long and whatever I do will prosper."

The old record player started to play a soothing, percussive melody as the chemists watched Pops do his thing.

"What's he doing?" One of the magicians curiously asked.

The old man then took out a bottle of wine and splashed some of it all over the floor while chanting. "Divine Love enfold me, surround me and enrapt me and I'll go forth in peace. I am going to be a wonderful success in all of my undertakings today."

Pops then formed a circle of red sand around himself and slowly moved to the music, trying not to go over the perimeter he had made. _"Yoambe. Yoambe. Cimalo. Guede Nimbo." _ He said in his native tongue as the others watched. Pops then began to sing to the music and contact the spirits like Sakura had requested.

_§ You'll be... Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm..._

_Magnet for money._

_You'll be... Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm..._

_Magnet for love. §_

After a while Suki, Liam and Maya let the magicians practice on their own and sat down next to Marvin and Sakura. The children's entertainer shook his head and smiled.

"It's amazing." He said. "All that you accomplished and still the fight isn't over."

"It's never over." Liam told him.

"No, I know that." He chuckled for a moment. "But imagine all those who will look up to you. Hell, they might even write songs about you or something. People like that stuff."

"Do you think it's worth it?" Sakura asked Marvin.

"Don't _you_?"

She shrugged. "It's only a matter of knowing how to use your magic."

"Or a wand." Maya added. "There's nothing big about _that_."

_§ You'll feel... Mmm..._

_Light in your body._

_Now, I'm gonna say... _

_Gonna say these words._

_  
Rompiendo la monotonia del tiempo._

_Rompiendo la monotonia del tiempo. §_

Marvin was surprised at his fellow magicians' attitude. "How can you talk like that? Your magic has gotten you everything you have. Right?" He looked at the others, who were unresponsive at the moment. "Right?" He asked again.

"Sure. Everything." Maya said. "After a while you can start picking fights with anyone who so much as gives you a dirty look and leave town before they can track you down. Rented rooms you live in: 500. Home: none. Family: none. Prospects: zero." She looked down and fiddled with her long, golden mane. "Suppose I left anything out?" 

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. Friends you can let in on your secret: few. Number of thanks received for your actions: none."

Suki then added to the conversation. "Insults swallowed: none. Enemies: none."

"No enemies?" Liam asked.

"..._Alive_." The Japanese girl said with a grin.

After the sparring session, Meiling headed for the bathroom as Li took a seat near one of the aisles. He wiped some of the sweat he had built up from the workout when Tomoyo took a seat next to him and handed him a towel.

"Thanks." He said.

"You're welcome." She smiled at him.

After a long pause, Tomoyo struck up another conversation. "You and Meiling spent a lot of time training together, haven't you?"

Li nodded. "Yeah. Ever since we were kids."

_§ It might... Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm..._

_  
It might rain money._

_  
It might... Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm..._

_  
It might rain fire._

_Now I'm gonna call, gonna call on Legba._

_  
Get yourself a sign._

_  
Get your love and desire._

_Rompiendo la monotonia del tiempo._

_  
Rompiendo la monotonia del tiempo. §_

Tomoyo and Li continued talking to each other as everyone else trained. "It's amazing what you do out there." The girl said. "I'm really impressed."

"Thanks." Li was unsure as to why she was complimenting him all of a sudden but didn't give it much thought.

"Have you ever had to train anyone?" Tomoyo suddenly asked.

Li then had to think. "No. I never really thought about it before."

_§ Papa Legba._

_  
Come and open the gate. _

_Hey, Papa Legba._

_To the city of camps. _

_We are your children. _

_Come and ride your horse. _

_In the night. In the night._

_  
Come and ride your horse. §_

"But if you had to, do you think it's something you could do?" Tomoyo asked the brown-eyed boy.

He shrugged. "Yeah. Sure. I don't see why not."

"How long would it normally take to train someone up to your level?"

_§ There is a queen. _

_Six, Seven and Nine._

_Dust in your garden._

_And poison in your mind._

_There is a king._

_That will steal your soul._

_  
Don't let him catch you._

_Don't let him get control. §_

Li thought again then replied, "I don't know. I guess it kind of depends on the person."

"How so?" His friend asked.

"Well they have to be determined, you know? They have to be willing to give it their all and not give up no matter how bad they may want to. It's a really demanding thing, both mentally and physically." He paused for a moment. "Wait, why are you asking me about all this?"

Tomoyo just shrugged. "Just curious."

_§ Papa Legba. _

_Come and open the gate. _

_Papa Legba._

_To the city of camps._

_We are your children._

_  
Come and ride your horse._

_In the night. In the night._

_  
Come and ride your horse._

_In the night. In the night. _

_Come and ride your horse. §_

After the music died out, Pops stood still and placed his hands over the candles and breathed in the air around him. The magicians watched closely as the old man made his connection with the spirit realm and remained absolutely quiet.

Tomoyo, however, still had one last question she needed answered. "Li?" She asked her friend.

"Yes?" The boy was now suspicious.

"How long do you think it would take to train _me_?"


	17. Defeat Too Soon

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Sakura found herself standing in the middle of a battlefield as more and more people fell dead before her. She turned to see caged doors opening and releasing several loose spirits as children's screams of horror cried out through the night sky. After a while, Sakura awoke and found herself back in one of the guest rooms of Eriol's home. She was still in England and there was no battlefield to be fought on yet.

She headed downstairs and met everyone in the dining room as they ate their breakfast. Sakura took a seat next to Li as Spinel served her a cup of tea. The majority of the army was present but the others were off doing something else, either training or sleeping in.

"I had the dream again." Sakura told her friends.

"The battlefield?" Kero asked her.

She nodded. "It's getting more and more accurate. I have a very bad feeling things will only get worse before they get better."

"And you're right." Mr. Graham said as he entered the dining room.

"What is it?" Eriol asked.

Inside the monitor room, several television screens displayed various news reports on the destruction of major cities. One channel reported on the Poland incident, another on mass murders and abductions that occurred in the Serbian front and the current report, focused on the majority of the channels, displayed images of Faust's demon army wiping out parts of France.

Sakura, Li, Tomoyo, Eriol and the guardians stood around Mr. Graham as he sat at the desk, his head bowed down. "The military are having trouble thwarting them off." Graham said. "Once they reach the American continent, all hope will be lost."

Pops, Jimmy, Marvin, Suki and Maya entered the room and were shocked to see all the terrible events happening on television. "Lord have mercy." The preacher said to himself.

"How can we possibly fight back in front of live media coverage?" Li asked.

"We have no choice." Eriol said.

"Did you make contact with the spirit realm, Pops?" Sakura asked the old man.

The witch doctor nodded. "Oh, I did. Some of the spirits I felt said Faust was coming to pick 'em up near Stonehenge."

"Stonehenge?" Nakuru was puzzled. "But that's all the way back here in England. Why would he come back?"

"It doesn't matter." Liam said as he walked in. "We're one step ahead of the boy-o so I suggest we get a move on and surprise him."

Sakura nodded. "Good idea. If we can prevent him from resurrecting that part of the army, it'll shorten his numbers."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Meiling asked as she entered the room, strapping her gloves on. "Let's get in there!"

Li stepped forward and stopped Meiling in her tracks. "Not so fast." He told her. "I've got a special job for you."

"What?" Meiling was confused.

"Tomoyo." Li called her over.

The lavender-haired girl slowly walked over to Li and suddenly felt her heart pound. "Y-yes?" She stuttered.

"I want you to stay here with Meiling. She's got a lot to teach you." He told her.

"What!?" Both girls shouted in unison, one from excitement the other from total surprise.

¬¬¬¬¬ WE NOW TAKE YOU TO AN ENGLISH SETTING YET TO HAVE BEEN HEARD FROM IN THIS STORY: STONEHENGE ¬¬¬¬¬

The fog had started to rise around the ancient monument which allowed Sakura and her team to hide in safety. Her use of the Mist card was an ingenious move as an element of surprise was just what they needed to get the jump on Faust.

There they waited several moments before Kero grew impatient and flew around the towering structure. "All right, I'm sick of this! Are you sure they were coming here!?" The doll asked the voodoo practitioner.

"The spirits never lie." He responded.

"Indeed they don't, witch doctor!" Faust said as he appeared from behind the army.

Everyone jumped back and readied themselves for any sudden movements the Dark Lord might make. "Trying to catch me with my trousers down?" He asked. "It's a good thing I brought more than my fair share of help."

The warlord snapped his fingers and in an instant, hundreds upon hundreds of his demon warriors appeared from bolts of lightning. Sakura and her army dwarfed in comparison by number and huddled in a large circle.

"This isn't good." Spinel said.

"I don't get it! How did he know we were gonna show up before he did!?" Kero demanded an answer.

"Intellect, Cerberus." Faust answered.

Corin stepped towards the warlord and pointed his finger at him. "We're not afraid of you. We have Jesus on our side."

The evil one just blankly stared at the preacher man and gently tapped his finger on the man's shirt collar, instantly setting him ablaze. The preacher ran around, screaming and hollering but everyone ignored him as they had to focus on a more serious matter.

"Stand back!" The television illusionist started. "I'll hold my breath and thwart him off!" Davey Payne took a deep breath and held it in, counting the minutes very slowly. Li and the others looked unimpressed.

"Yeah..." The brown-haired boy said. "Or I can kick him in the nuts while Ruby sets fire to the field."

"Sounds like a plan!" Ruby Moon said, charging her fists with a magic energy.

"Let's roll with it." Sakura concurred as she took out a card.

The army scattered about and tried to defend themselves as Li kept his end of the bargain and gave Faust a swift kick in the berries. "You little bastard!" Faust screeched in pain as he kneeled down and growled.

Sakura unleashed the power of the Sand card and soon transformed into a whirling sandstorm, throwing the demons off her army. Faust emitted an electrical attack towards the sand being and caused Sakura to revert back to her normal self.

Faust then raised his arms up into the air and called out to something in Latin. "Extraho exorior!"

Four menacing dragons then swooped down below and set fire to the area, catching the army totally by surprise. Pops and Suki rolled along the grassy knoll, dodging every attack that was being sent towards them as Li defended some of the weakened combatants with his magic. He slipped out an ofuda and electrocuted several of Faust's minions then hurried over to assist the wounded.

Sakura looked around and saw all the damage that was being done, knowing that those dragons had to be taken out immediately. She took out three cards and focused her energy on them. After a few seconds, she sprung off into the air at an incredible speed and chased after Faust's pets.

"Sword card!" She shouted, unleashing the blade from its card form. She then charged herself with the Power card to giver her superhuman strength and take down the dragons as fast as she could.

Two of the horned dragons saw Sakura and went charging towards her. The girl hurled the Sword at one of the stones, setting it well in place as she gathered all her strength and prepared for the dragons' oncoming collision. Once they were in reach, Sakura stopped in midair and swung both her fists, punching both creatures across the face and sending them towards different directions. One of the dragons landed into a nearby ocean as the other crashed into a mountain, being smothered by rocks and dirt.

"That's two." Sakura said to herself as the battle continued down below. Faust walked along the field and grinned as he saw his children scare off Sakura's own warriors. He looked up and saw Sakura flying around, battling the other two dragons.

The card captor zoomed around the two spotted creatures and grabbed hold of their wings, trying to slow them down. One of them managed to knock her down with its tail, causing Sakura to plummet to the floor. She immediately regained her balance and changed her direction, flying after the Sword. Once retrieved, Sakura hurried back to the creatures and dodged every breath of fire thrown at her.

Spinel Sun and Cerberus fought back to back, trying to protect the wounded but to no avail as they were suddenly tackled to the floor by several demon brutes. Jimmy, Pops and Marvin remained safely behind one of the stone pillars as Ruby Moon and Yue protected them with an energy hull.

"Oh, jeez! What the hell was I thinking!?" Marvin shouted in a panic. "I should have stayed at Microsoft!"

"Remain where you are!" Yue commanded the magician. "Sakura does not wish for any harm to befall you."

"You okay, Jimbo?" Ruby asked as she thwarted off several demons with her magic shards.

The preacher was breathing heavily from the trauma he had suffered. "I'll be fine." He said. He was lucky most of the fire died out with all that running he did.

Back in the sky, Sakura managed to hang onto one of the dragons and pilot it around the clouds as the other came chasing after her. Sakura's patience paid off as she stopped her ride in midair and caused its razor-sharp tail to impale the other in the chest. The dragon rolled its eyes back and screeched as it fell to the floor, dragging the other one behind. Sakura hung on as the remaining dragon jerked its head around, trying to snap at the young girl.

"Whoa! Easy!" She said as she held her sword firmly. "Okay. Time to end this." Sakura then did a back-flip and ran her weapon down the creature's head, killing it upon impact. Both the dragons then landed on the ground with a booming thud that managed to crush some of Faust's army.

The Dark Lord was impressed but knew her army didn't stand a chance against his. He raised his hand and signaled his fighters to cease their actions. The area was now littered with fallen warriors from both sides. Unfortunately, the majority of the dead was from Sakura's side rather than Faust's.

"Well done, Sakura. But I'm afraid you're still outnumbered." He told the girl.

Sakura turned her head and recognized the triplets lying on the floor. One of them, however, wasn't moving. The sisters grabbed hold of their dead sibling and cried over her corpse, which was severely burned. "We have failed you, card mistress!" One of them shouted.

Sakura looked away and angrily faced the evil warlord. "What do you want?"

"I want you to see what your foolishness is costing you, Sakura." He told her. "There's no need to fight me. Accept your fate and be done with it."

"It's not going to be that easy, Faust." Sakura warned him. "It's not over."

"It will be soon enough. Once I take those children to the Island of Lost Souls, my army will then be completed."

Sakura then realized something. "You're going to transfer those lost spirits into the children and give them new bodies to serve your cause."

Faust clapped his hands and smiled. "Brava! At last she understands!"

Li, Eriol and the guardians slowly walked over to Sakura's side, ready to protect her. "Island of Lost Souls?" Li asked.

"That's all you need to know." Faust told him. "I am now giving you a choice, Sakura. Either you and your army part ways and live out whatever remaining days you have left..."

"Or?" Sakura interrupted.

"Or you all die right here and now. But I must warn you. It won't be quick and painless. I will personally see to it that you suffer."

Spinel then tugged at Sakura's sleeve. "I say we go with the first one. If I'm gonna die, I wanna do it in style!"

"I second that." Liam said as he appeared from the smoke unharmed and without worry.

All the other members of Sakura's army started to nod and murmur amongst each other. Disappointed, Sakura looked down and turned her back on everyone. "Fine." She said under breath.

"Sakura?" A surprised Yue asked. "You can't be serious."

Maya studied Sakura's face and nodded. "She is."

"Good." Liam said as he walked over to Faust and stood by his side.

"Liam?" Maya was shocked to see her friend standing with the Dark Lord. "What are you doing?"

"Liam has been a loyal follower since the days of Clow Reed." Faust told the British girl. "He's a lot older than he looks, you know." He winked. "In fact, Liam here was the one who found me and returned me to my present state."

Sakura overheard this but said nothing. She was too upset over everything that had happened.

"That's how you knew to ambush us here." Kero said.

"Then that means you were responsible for us getting captured at Heidelberg Asylum." Maya concluded.

The Irishman nodded. "Of course. I knew Sakura would mount a desperate rescue attempt for us so that's why we had demons waiting for 'em at every turn. Unfortunately I didn't count on her unleashing the army on 'em that early. If they hadn't intervened, you'd have been dead by now."

"You son of a bitch." Eriol said. "Tomoyo trusted you. She damn near fell in love with you."

"Did she now?" The Irishman asked. "Give her my regards."

"Good-bye, Sakura." Faust said as he and his minions vanished from the area.

The remaining few from Sakura's army gathered their belongings and disappeared from the area with their magic. Jimmy, Pops, Marvin, Maya and Suki were the only ones left hanging around with Sakura and the others. Davey Payne, who had still been holding his breath this entire time, fell to the floor. Dead. Pops nudged the corpse with the tip of his shoe and shook his head.

"He's dead." The witch doctor said.

"You mean he forgot to exhale?" Ruby asked, almost giggling.

Li approached Sakura, who was still upset over their defeat, and put his hand on her shoulder. "Sakura?" He started. "Are you..."

Sakura turned and put her head on his chest, crying. Li sighed and wrapped his arms around her, trying to give some much needed comfort. "It's not over, Li." She told him. "I swear to you. It's not over."

"Sakura." Marvin said. "I think it's time to face the facts. It is over. We lost."

"Maybe." She said, wiping away her tears. "But I'm not going to give up."

¬¬¬¬¬ SAN FRANCISCO ¬¬¬¬¬

Traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge was piling up as many people tried to leave the city, fearing for their lives. The news on television was more than enough to convince them that the end of the world was near.

In a heartbeat, every living thing on that bridge was eradicated by a plume of fire. Cars were destroyed, people evaporated and the entire bridge wiped out. The demons arrived and charged towards the city, killing everything in sight. Faust and his cloaked minions, however, materialized elsewhere near the city. A small island across where the bridge used to be was where Faust was planning to resurrect the final addition to his army.

The Dark Lord looked around the building that inhabited the island and grinned at his followers. "Welcome to the Rock."

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE: The end is almost near, folks! But I need some positive feedback to inspire me! So hit that button at the bottom of the screen and tell me what you think so far! Please?_**


	18. Waiting For God

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Not much longer until the big finale! In the meantime, just read this chapter and pray to God that I finish this story on time!**_

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Back in Tomoeda, Sakura's father rushed inside his home and desperately searched for his two children. The news of Faust's attack all over the globe had caused the caring father to cancel his trip and head for home. "Sakura? Touya?" He called. There was no answer. Just then, his cell phone rang. As he answered, he was surprised to hear Tomoyo's mother on the other end.

"Fujitaka." She said with a sigh. The news had gotten to her as well. "Are you at home? Are you all right? How are the kids?"

The man started to panic. "I'm fine but the kids are missing. I can't find them."

"What? They should be home. Tomoyo called me here in Hong Kong and said that they had to cancel their trip to England early."

"Trip to England? What trip to England?" The news caught him by surprise.

Sonomi was now as confused as he was. "Don't you remember? Tomoyo and Sakura were invited to England by their old teacher."

"No, Sakura never left. She stayed with Touya as I went on my business trip to Cairo."

"I'm coming home now." The mother then said. "We need to find our children and find out what's going on."

¬¬¬¬¬ IN SAN FRANCISCO... ¬¬¬¬¬

Hundreds of American soldiers on foot evacuated the city as several carrier tanks rolled along the streets to thwart off Faust's demon warriors. The attacks were successful but the warlord's dragons soon interfered with the revolt and swept the men away, killing them with ease. More and more of the demon knights arose from the ground and overwhelmed the soldiers, outnumbering them by the masses.

Across the city on Alcatraz Island, Faust and Liam looked at the damage being done and gave each other a satisfied grin.

"Your dream is becoming a reality, my lord." The Irishman said.

"Yes." Faust nodded. "I do prefer reality over fiction."

Just then, the hooded men appeared with all of the children that had been kidnapped from all over the globe. There were at least 200 of them and they were all chained together as they herded inside the old prison.

The Dark Lord spoke to the head priest. "Begin the process. Be sure that every spirit has been given a new body. If we need more..." He looked over to the burning city. "We'll know where to get them."

"Yes, my lord." The cloaked man said as he helped escort the crying children into the building.

In the skies, several jet fighters were sent in to bring down the large demon flyers but to no avail. Every missile sent towards the dragons only resulted in minor damage, further angering the demon pets. Breaths of fire and clouds of smoke emitted from the creatures proved to be too much for the planes as they either blew up or were severely damaged.

Ground troops advancing towards the city were only making minimal damage against the demons and were being killed off one by one. Bullets and missiles against swords and knives didn't seem to work as well as they thought, much to their surprise.

¬¬¬¬¬ BACK IN ENGLAND... ¬¬¬¬¬

Inside the monitor room, Mr. Graham sat at the desk with his head down and hands running through his hair. The televisions all around him displayed the damage being done in every part of the world. It wouldn't be long until a new army came marching down the streets of London, where he and Sakura's team were at the moment.

"An estimated 40,000 have already been reported dead in the Himilayas..." A British newscaster said.

"... Military forces around the globe have been overwhelmed by this strange menace..." Another said.

A Japanese reporter was in tears as she spoke on live television. "Millions dead around the globe and the numbers keep coming in. There doesn't seem to be an end to this massacre..."

"... Our thoughts and prayers go with those brave pilots. Indeed, God help us all." Said an Australian news reporter.

But the one question every news channel in the world kept repeating was, "Will we be saved?"

Sakura stood at the balcony atop of the mansion and looked out at the night sky. She could feel the evil around her and the millions of people dying. Their voices were crying out in her head but she couldn't make it stop. After a moment, Sakura breathed heavily and wiped a tear from her eye then turned to her friends. They were in the room, waiting for a reply.

"I've decided." She said as she stepped back inside the room. "I'm going to bring an end to all this. Even if I have to do it alone."

Li placed his hand on hers and shook his head. "I told you before, Sakura. You're _never_ alone."

Kero and Spinel flew over to Sakura and smiled at her. "I haven't turned my back on you before!" The doll started. "So what makes you think I'll start now?"

Supi nodded. "I agree. A friend in need is a friend with strong support."

"And we just happen to be that support." Eriol said as he stepped forward.

Yuki and Nakuru exchanged glances and nodded. "Count us in." Nakuru said.

Meiling looked around and shrugged. "Oh, what the hell. I've lived a good life."

Sakura smiled and looked over to Tomoyo, who was sitting in the corner alone. She then approached her friend and placed her hands over hers.

"I know you want to help, Tomoyo." She started. "But I can't have you out there risking your life. Especially without the proper training."

Tomoyo nodded. "I know. I just wanted to be a part of the action. To actually help you out instead of just filming you and making your battle outfits. I never intended to get in the way, Sakura--"

Li then stepped forward, remembering what he had said to her earlier. "Is that why you came to me?" He asked. "Because of what I said?"

Tomoyo shook her head. "No. I mean, yes. But that wasn't just it. I wanted to be a valuable asset to the team and I thought that if you were to train me then--"

"You _could_ just use the Fight card." Meiling interrupted.

Then, in that blond moment of everyone's, everybody smacked their heads for forgetting such an obvious solution to a problem that shouldn't have existed from the start. _Doy! _was the expression that came to mind.

Sakura thought about it and nodded. "Yeah, that's not bad. Okay. You can come."

Eriol then interjected. "Wait a minute. How will that work? Tomoyo has no magic connection for the Fight card to communicate with."

"She doesn't need one!" Li told the limey. "It'll fuse with her body and give her the expertise to kick some serious ass!" He then slapped him in the back of the head. "Stupid!"

Sakura then asked Tomoyo, "Got any new battle outfits?"

"I think I have just the ones..." Tomoyo thought aloud.

In one of the guest rooms, Marvin, Jimmy, Suki, Maya and Pops all hung around as they started to pack their belongings. Marvin took a seat on the bed softly beat his head against the top of his black trunk.

"Purpose. _What_ purpose?" He asked. "Sakura's a nice kid and all but she was wrong about everything. Jimmy, Pops and I didn't serve a purpose."

"Speak for yourself." The voodoo witch doctor said. "I spoke to those spirits and they told us exactly where to go."

"And look how that ended up." The children's entertainer snapped. "Faust beat us there anyway and turned the tables on us. Then Liam betrayed us and we ended up losing half the army in that massacre."

"The Lord has a plan for everyone, son." Jimmy told him.

"What about _my_ plan? All I ever wanted was to make a living out of making young children laugh and smile" The magician told him. "I didn't want to join some magic army and represent some magic symbol."

Pops nodded as he held on to his nose-ring voodoo rattle and Jimmy stroked the JCC cross cufflinks on his sleeve. Maya leaned back against the bed and fiddled with her set of magic potions and elixirs. She then noticed Suki strapping on a belt and adjusting several blades within its holsters.

"What are you doing?" The British girl asked.

Suki then placed a few magic beads down her pouch and looked over to her friends. "Nobody beats me to the floor and tells me to run." She then tightened the belt and shook her head. "No one."

Maya grinned and gathered up all her potions and placed them in a bag with her wand. "Nobody makes a fool out of me and gets away with it." The blond girl said with Liam in mind.

Soon, Pops and Jimmy were following along and unpacking their things to join the two girls. Marvin was all too confused. "What are you doing? You're actually going in there to fight?" He asked them.

Jimmy nodded. "Son, I've been a servant of God for over 30 years. And in all that time I never really thought I made one speck of difference. Then I met Sakura. And when I was fighting alongside her and making sure her kin was safe, I knew then that I really _was_ doing something worthwhile." The preacher grabbed his bible and placed it in his coat pocket. "And if I turn my back on her now, I'm not only doing an injustice to the world. I'm doing an injustice to her."

Marvin couldn't believe what was going on. He was shocked to find that after all that had happened, his new friends were willing to march right back into battle. "I can't believe your serious." He said to them. "You're all crazy!" 

"Marvin..." Pops started. "No one's telling you to go. You can just sit here and wait for that nasty army to come get ya." The African then placed his white hat on his bald head and winked at the American. "See ya 'round."

Down the hallway of the mansion, Sakura, dressed in a new battle outfit, regrouped with her team. Her outfit included a dark blue top with flexible skin-tight sleeves, red gloves, a golden belt with a pink "S" as the buckle, a pink skirt with shorts underneath, dark pink knee-high boots and a dark pink cape draped behind her to finish it off.

Li walked along, wearing a remodeled version of his battle outfit from the Void card encounter. The costume was the same but the color scheme was now black with a dark green lining and the hat was longer a part of it.

Eriol, in his traditional robes, Yuki, Nakuru and the sun guardians followed behind as Tomoyo joined in. Tomoyo wore a black, leather outfit with an orange lining and wore her hair back as Li stopped her in her tracks.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Here." Li said as he handed her his sword.

"But it's yours." She told him.

"I've got another one." He said as he took out the wooden case he brought from home. He opened it up and revealed a new sword, complete with a hard mahogany handle and a golden double edged blade.

"Thanks, mom." Li giggled like a little kid.

As they continued walking down the hall, Meiling joined in, wearing her old red and white battle outfit from all those years ago. "I can't believe this used to fit me." She said as she zipped up the top.

"It's been a long time." Sakura smiled.

"Can you estimate how many Faust has?" Eriol asked.

"Yeah." Li answered for him. "An army. Something _we_ used to have."

"A numerical estimate is hard to guess at this point." Yuki said. "But I know one thing's for sure. We're definitely going to be outnumbered."

Everyone stopped in their tracks when they noticed Kaho stepping out of a room, dressed in a leather outfit similar to Tomoyo's. "Are we all ready?"

Sakura nodded. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I've been playing on the sidelines too long. It's time I actually did something." The teacher said as she glanced over to Tomoyo.

Sakura took out one last bag of magic powder supplied by Maya and looked at her friends. "All right, everyone. Let's go save the world."

_**UP NEXT: The final battle begins...**_

_**PLUS: Will the world discover Sakura's abilities? Will she save the day on time? Will those children ever be set free?**_

_**  
AND THE QUESTION YOU'RE ALL DYING TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO: Will Sakura and Li ever have their 1st friggin' kiss!?**_

_**FIND OUT SOON!**_


	19. The Last Hurrah

_**NOTE: All right, I know how bad this looks. It's a LONG chapter. But believe me, there's a bit of a payoff at the end of this one. So just sit tight, grab some popcorn, put in a CD or something and enjoy. There's only one chapter left.**_

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Alcatraz Island. A place where the most notorious prison was built on and a battlefield where Faust and his minions slaughtered thousands of Spanish settlers in the old days. After the massacre, those in the magic realm had referred to the island as the "Island of Lost Souls." Souls of countless fallen warriors from the Conquistador era and the souls of the criminally intent from the prison days were untraceable by most but noticeable by the Dark Lord himself.

His priests were now preparing to transfer those lost souls into their new bodies. Bodies that happened to belong to young children from different parts of the world, who had been taken from their homes as their parents were murdered before them. Scared and unaware of what's happening, the children can only hope that someone will come for them and set things right.

The US military continued to protect the streets of San Francisco as Faust's demon army unleashed all of their might against them. Their weapons seemed feeble and obsolete against the dark army's but at least they were making some progress. The same situation was occurring all over the world as different countries were at war in their own homes against the evil that threatened them.

The streets were a mess as people were abandoning their vehicles and trying to flee the city on foot. The military helped escort as many people as they could before returning to battle against the demon scourge. News reporters were also on the streets, trying to get as much footage of the war as possible without getting hurt themselves.

Just then, the ground started to shake and alarmed several of the men in uniform. They could see a small flying object coming towards them at a rapid speed. The object zoomed past the tall buildings, leaving behind a loud booming noise. The windows on every skyscraper started to shake from the object's intense speed and eventually cracked but not shattered. As the demons advanced toward the US military, they too looked up in the sky and noticed the flying objecting heading straight for them.

"I'm-a coming!" Sakura shouted as she zoomed straight into a bundle of demons, knocking them down to the floor with all her strength. The uses of the Power and Fly cards together proved to be a favorite combination for Sakura. As she continued speeding above ground level, thousands of fleeing civilians were surprised at what they saw.

"It's a girl!" One shouted.

"Who is that?" Said another.

Sakura then noticed several of the buildings starting to collapse behind her as the people continued running away. She then took out another card and unleashed its magic. "Fire card!" She yelled as her entire body became engulfed in flames. As she flew in her blazing form, Sakura left behind a trail of fire that dissolved every bit of falling debris with its intense heat.

Sakura then flew up into the air and found herself surrounded by more dragons. She grinned at the creatures and shot out her arms, sending forth a barrage of flaming orbs. The fireballs were strong enough to push them back and allow the jet fighters to bring them down for good.

On Alcatraz island, Faust could feel Sakura's presence and grinned. "That silly girl." Then, in a slow dissolve, the warlord vanished. Sakura landed in the middle of the street and noticed another group of Faust's warriors coming her way. She took out another card and shouted, "Freeze!"

Her body then became covered in an icy shell, allowing her to move as freely as she normally would. As the demons approached her, she sent forth an ice beam to freeze the creatures in a block of ice and allow the military to shatter them with ease. Sakura then noticed more of the buildings starting to collapse and used the card within her to support them with a powerful glacier.

"How the hell did you do that?" One of the soldiers asked the girl.

"Well..." Sakura started but noticed some of the news crew coming her way. "Got to go!" She said as she took off and headed for another part of the city.

¬¬¬¬¬ IN TOMOEDA; SAKURA'S HOUSE ¬¬¬¬¬

The breaking news of Sakura saving San Francisco was now being viewed in every major part of the world that was still standing. Fujitaka and Sonomi were amongst those to witness the amazing young girl's abilities on television and now found themselves at a loss for words.

"Was that... Sakura?" Sonomi asked as she sat back on a chair.

"_My_ Sakura?" The girl's father was baffled. "That doesn't make any sense. How did... how did she do that?"

¬¬¬¬¬ IN ENGLAND ¬¬¬¬¬

Touya sat down on a chair in the monitor room as he and Mr. Graham witnessed the events as well. "I've seen enough." Said Graham as he stood up from his chair and headed out the door.

"Where are you going?" Touya asked the man.

The accountant sighed and looked over to Sakura's brother. "I'm going to make things right."

"How do you mean?" 

"You'll see, my boy. You'll see."

¬¬¬¬¬ BACK IN SAN FRANCISCO ¬¬¬¬¬

The general on-site got off the phone and went over to a few of his men. "Listen up. We just got word that there are children being held on Alcatraz Island." The soldiers started to murmur but their superior silenced them. "I know it's terrible. But we have to hold our ground until we get more help."

"What about the children?" One of the soldiers asked.

"I've already called in for more air support and the Coast Guard's on their way. Hopefully we can get them out of there without getting them killed." The general told the men.

"Sir! Look!" Another soldier called out.

They all hurried over to another side of the street and noticed Faust heading their way with a larger number of demons marching behind him. The gray-skins, the blood-reds, and some of the cloaked men were armed and ready to bring down the military for good.

"Fire!" The general said as his men gave them everything they had. Every bullet, every missile and every rocket aimed towards Faust were redirected and sent towards various building structures. Tanks rolled along the ground and attempted to bring them down only to explode in the process. Faust's dark magic proved to be too strong for them.

The military was now face-to-face with Faust and his hordes as a red energy beam and a trail of fire shot down and divided the two. Spinel Sun and Cerberus flew around and continued to draw a line in the street with their magic and eventually landed in front of the military, facing Faust. Yue and Ruby Moon's energy shards drew another line, pushing the demon army back, as the two moon guardians landed next to their counterparts. Then, in a bolt of lightning that also scared off some of the demons, Eriol levitated himself to ground level and held his magic staff firmly. Meiling hung on a rope and repelled herself from a nearby building and met with the others as Kaho levitated down as well. Li and Tomoyo crossed their swords and jumped off a narrow building, scraping the metal as it slowed their descent towards the ground and sent forth a lightshow of spark. And finally, Sakura made a hard landing onto ground from the sky and managed to make a crack that ran along the middle of the street.

"Hold that line and for God's sake, hold your ground!" Sakura ordered the men in uniform.

Liam smiled at Tomoyo and made a kissing noise. "Good to see you again, darling."

Tomoyo just glared at him, angry and heartbroken at the same time. "I wish I could say the same." The girl said.

"You came back." Faust said to Sakura.

"It's not over yet." Sakura said with a grin. "Now let those children go and maybe I won't give you such a hard time."

"Are you threatening me?"

"If that's how you want to put it."

"Fine." Faust growled as his eyes glowed red. "Attack!"

The thousands in Faust's control charged towards the hundreds, who were defending the city. Li swung his new sword around and managed to cut through several demons' chests then placed an ofuda at the tip of the blade. "Emperor of Thunder, answer my call!" He shouted as the sword absorbed all of the energy and unleashed it upon the demons, covering them in a blanket of lightning. Yue and Ruby Moon flew into the air and rained down their shards upon the demon army, killing as many as they could.

Cerberus unleashed his fiery breath upon the demons when he noticed Spinel being stacked by several gray-skins. "Hey! Help!" The panther screamed.

"Oh, for the love of..." Cerberus said to himself as he cleared the swarm off of his ally's back. "Why am I always saving your ass!?" The lion growled.

"Because you're always _beating_ my ass!" Spinel snapped back.

Eriol found himself surrounded and raised his hand into the air, unleashing an orb of black energy. The energy waves shot into the demons' eyes and caused them to fall to the floor and into a seizure. He then twirled his staff around and started slashing down those who stood in his way.

Kaho noticed a swarm heading towards her and slowly put her hand out and concentrated her magic. Within a blink of an eye, the ground beneath Faust's children broke apart and crushed them to death with the heavy pieces. Li saw this and was really impressed.

"I didn't know you could do that." He said to his old teacher. "What else can you do?"

Kaho noticed a nearby tanker truck and lifted it with her telekinesis and hurled it against another group of demons, causing a major explosion. "How's that?" She winked.

Meiling back-flipped away from several sword wielding creatures and eventually kicked some of them down, pulling out a staff from the back of her sash. She cracked her neck and motioned for more of the demons to come her way. "Come on! Who's up next!?" She teased. One of them swung their blade at her but she managed to block with her staff and turn it the other way to knock the creature down.

Tomoyo ran towards her own group of opponents and adjusted the small camera device attached to her leather collar. "All right, I hope I'm getting this right. I'm about to take the Fight card for a test drive and if I come out alive, I'm definitely getting bragging rights." She said into the device as she felt the Fight card's spirit flow through her. Tomoyo balled up her fists and went straight for the offensive, punching down two demons at the same time and stealing another's weapon. She twirled the hatchet around and slammed it against her opponent's head, killing it instantly. 

"Whoa!" She jumped with joy. "I love this card!" Tomoyo then ducked an oncoming attack by two archers and grabbed the hatchet from the dead demon's head then threw it at them. She dodged another few arrows and stole one of the crossbows and sent forth her own attack.

Faust stood in the middle of the street as he witnessed the battle raging on. The military stood their ground and did their part, aiding Sakura's friends any way they could. Sakura fused with the Earth card and had her limbs covered in a rocky shell, creating several seismic charges that pushed the dark army back. The young girl continued fighting her way through hordes of demons in an attempt to get to Faust but the Dark Lord kept sending in more and more of his children.

"We're outnumbered!" Ruby shouted as she continued raining down on the demon army.

Just then, an energy bolt wiped out an entire section of Faust's army, much to everyone's surprise. "What was that?" Li asked.

As the battle paused for a moment, everyone looked up one of the buildings where Pops, Suki and Maya revealed themselves. Maya held out her smoking wand and winked at her friends. "Having fun without us, Sakura?" The British girl joked.

"Come on in, the water's fine!" Sakura joked back.

"I hope you have room for us as well." Mr. Graham said as he and hundreds more appeared from the roof of another building. Everyone from the army who had survived Faust's ambush was there, including various other magicians who worked for the old man.

Faust was perplexed by the magicians' sudden return to battle. "What is this!? I thought I told you to run and never come back!"

"You did." Jimmy told the Dark Lord. "But we figured, 'what the hell'?"

Graham took out his wand and bowed his head to Sakura then called out into the air. "I am James Elliot Graham. In the name of all that is good and decent, I fight for Sakura Kinomoto! Who's with me!?"

Pops nodded and removed his hat then responded. "I am Imamu Amadi! I fight for Sakura Kinomoto as well!"

Maya then shouted as well, "I am Maya Elaine! _I_ fight for Sakura Kinomoto!"

Suki also joined in. "I am Suki Moriko! I fight for Card Captor Sakura!"

"I'm Jimmy Craig Corin! _I_ fight for Sakura Kinomoto!" The preacher added as everyone started laughing. "Why the hell does everyone laugh at my name?" The preacher thought aloud.

"And I'm Marvin the Magnificent!" The children's entertainer shouted as he appeared from behind Maya in a cloud of smoke. He wore a traditional magician's top hat and cape and took out his wand. "I fight for her too."

"You came back." Maya said with a bright smile.

Soon, everyone else started shouting their names and pledging their allegiance to Sakura much to the young girl's surprise and admiration. She bowed her head in gratitude and looked over to the Dark Lord. "Faust!" She called out to him as she unleashed the Sword card.

"Do you really think you've won?" He asked her.

Sakura smiled and shouted, "Let's win this thing!"

Every news channel in the world soon got wind of the war that raged on in San Francisco much to everyone's awe. The army of magicians and the US military combined their efforts to take down Faust and his children as everyone at home watched on their television sets.

"Don't stop!" Sakura said to the armies as she rolled along the ground and saw Faust unleashing his dark magic into the air, calling more and more dragons and demons into the area. "Faust, get over here!" She called out to him.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. But I'm afraid I have a busy schedule this evening. But do enjoy yourselves, won't you?" He grinned as he returned to the island.

"He's going to the island!" Eriol said to her as he fought.

"Then that's where _we're_ going." Sakura said as she unleashed the magic of the Earth card once more. She focused her energy and terraformed the ground, shifting its position over to the island. Several of Faust's men plummeted off the large chunk of ground and into the ocean as Sakura and the others charged into the island.

"Impossible." Faust said to himself as he witnessed his children of darkness fall before Sakura's forces.

Sakura and the army rushed up the hill and looked down on the prison, where Sakura took out yet another card. "Wind!" She shouted as her body emitted a powerful tornado from within. The tornado ran along the ground, destroying the top of the prison and eliminating more of the demon army.

Everyone could then see the children inside the prison cells as they were covered by a magic force field. The dark priests stood their ground and continued chanting their spell as more and more of Faust's army arrived. Sakura's team wasted no time and went in while their leader glanced over to the Dark Lord.

"You can't run from me, Faust!" She shouted.

"I don't need to run." He growled under his breath.

Pops felt the spirits around him and focused his energy towards them. He opened his eyes and released a white light, killing several demons in the process. Jimmy found himself surrounded and whipped out his bible and began praying. "Now, I feel you've got a whole mess of Satan running through your system, son! Consider me the plumber! I'm here to drain the evil out of you!" The preacher dodged a fire attack and raised his hand, smacking one of the demons on the head. "Satan be gone!" He shouted, causing the demon to shrivel up and die. Soon, a chain reaction followed and killed all the demons surrounding the preacher man.

Tomoyo noticed Liam strutting around the battlefield and took out a small metal orb. She then approached the Irishman and positioned herself to fight. "You owe me an apology." She said to him.

"Lass, there's no point in this." He told her. "You'll only lose."

"Really?" Tomoyo wasted no time and struck the Irishman in the face then swiftly kicked him in the chest. Liam coughed and laughed at the same time, surprised by this sudden attack. "Not bad." He told her. "But you're dealing with a force of dark magic here. It's going to take a lot more than just kicks and punches, darling." The Irishman then unleashed an energy wave towards the young girl and pushed her to the ground. "An ordinary human girl, no matter how beautiful she may be, is no match for a servant of Faust."

Tomoyo grinned as she slowly crawled away on the ground. "You're right." She said as she then took out a small remote. "That's why we humans cheat."

Liam noticed the small orb placed on his cloak as it started to blink a red light. "Oh, shite." He said as Tomoyo pressed the remote button, causing the orb to explode.

Maya and Suki stuck with each other and followed Marvin as he hurried over to the prison and saw the children's spirits being sucked out of them. Suki and Maya then grabbed hold of the dark priest's magic book and killed the men in place. "What now?" The Japanese girl asked. Suddenly, the prison cells opened up as the young children slowly marched out with a glowing red haze in their eyes.

"Oh no." Maya started. "We're too late. They've been possessed." 

Faust noticed his young army marching out of the prison as Marvin, Suki and Maya attempted to snap them out of their trance. "Yes." Faust hissed to himself. "It won't be long until their new bodies adjust and their true forms will be revealed."

Desperate to avoid killing the children, Sakura used the Earth card yet again and focused her magic on the prison. She caused the area around the old jail to collapse and create a wall of rock, blocking any attack that may be sent their way.

Furious, Faust called his army back. "Cease fighting!" The demons obeyed and slowly walked towards their master. The military and the magicians paused as well, confused and unsure of what to expect now. "You've angered me for the last time, little girl." Faust snapped. He looked up into the air and began chanting. _"Copiae copie of malum, tribuo mihi vox ut ego debello quicumque est bonus."_

Soon, everything around him started to explode and dissolve, forcing the demon children to slowly back off. Sakura looked over to the general and called him over. "Get your men out of here, general."

"What?" He asked. "No, no. We got to stay and fight."

Sakura then pointed out the damage Faust was doing. "You see that? He's eliminating everything in his way with just a thought. You and your men don't stand a chance if you stay here. Go back to the city and stand your ground against the demon army while I take care of it."

The general thought long and hard about it then made his decision. "Good luck, little girl." He then called out to his men. "All right, boys! Let's go protect that city!" The troops were all but too happy to oblige as Sakura then faced Li, Eriol, Tomoyo and the rest of her army.

"Sakura, what are you doing?" Eriol asked her.

"Go back with them and help them defend the city." She told him. "I'll stay here and take care of Faust."

"What?" Li didn't like the idea. 

"Are you sure about this, Sakura?" The blue-eyed boy continued. "If you stay here and face Faust on your own, your only chance for survival is by doing what Clow Reed could not. That means killing a human being. A human being who has lost faith in his own kind but a human being nonetheless."

Sakura nodded. "I guess you're right. But from what I've seen, there's nothing human about what Faust has done."

The damage Faust was making continued to spread, eliminating various pieces of the island. "You're only delaying the inevitable, Sakura!" He shouted. "Those children will only break free from your little stone prison and unleash their fury and win this war!"

Marvin then approached Sakura. "Listen, kid. I think I know what my purpose is now."

"What?" She asked him.

"I have to save those kids." He answered. "It's my job as an entertainer. If I can get down there and snap them out of their trance, the effects of the spell won't kick in. They'll be alive and safe."

Sakura nodded. "All right. Pops, Jimmy, Suki, Maya. You go with him."

The four nodded and followed the magician over to the prison as the others started to leave the island. "Remember, Sakura." Eriol started again. "You kill him then everything goes back to normal. Everything he has done will be reversed and his magic perished."

Sakura took this into account and watched her allies return to the city. She then noticed Li standing around, unwilling to leave her behind. "Go with them, Li." She told him.

"I'm not leaving you." He said.

"I'm the only one who can stop him. Right now I need you to lead the others and protect the city until I make things right." She told him as she placed her hand on his face.

"Sakura..." Li whispered. "I don't want to lose you."

"You won't." She assured him.

Despite the fact that the world was practically coming to an end and that German dude with the attitude and dark magic was destroying parts of the island, Sakura and Li suddenly felt their hearts pounding again. Maybe because they knew they were about to die or because their feelings for each other were still as strong as ever. Who knows? But at that moment, their faces leaned in closer as their hearts beat faster.

"I'll come back to you." Sakura said to her beloved.

Then, at long last, the two finally pressed their lips against each other's in a warm, loving embrace as the world around them started to fall. You want me to explain it again? THEY KISSED! GOT IT!? Oh... sorry. The kiss was their first but for all they knew, it could have been their last. Afterwards, Li backed away and held her hand firmly.

"I love you." He told her.

"I love you too." She replied as Li let her hand go and walked off the island. Sakura then turned her attention back to Faust and called out to the Dark Lord once more. "All right, Faust! I'm here to kick ass and try my patience! And guess what? I'm all out of patience."

_**UP NEXT: The Showdown 19 chapters in the making! SAKURA vs FAUST! **_

**_STAY TUNED FOR THE FINAL CHAPTER OF "THE NEXT CRUSADE" COMING SOON... RIGHT NOW! NEXT PAGE! GO! HURRY! GO! PLEASE HURRY?_**


	20. A Long Journey's End

_**ONE LAST NOTE: Well, this is it. The end... the end! I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry. One last chapter, one last song. And yes, I know this one's long too! Sorry! Anyways, Enjoy...**_

THE FINAL CHAPTER

_§ I cant believe the news today_

_Oh, I cant close my eyes and make it go away_

_How long..._

_How long must we sing this song? _

_How long? how long... §_

Li led Sakura's army across the streets of San Francisco to finish off the remains of Faust's army while the US military continued to aid them any way they could. On the island, near the prison, Marvin led Pops, Suki, Maya and Jimmy towards the rock wall and concocted a way to get the children's attention.

"How many are there?" Suki asked.

"About two hundred." Pops answered. "I can feel the spirits swimming around their little bodies. They're gonna try to regain their original physique and use the body around them as a catalyst." He then took out an old sand timer, which was pouring down the bottom at a steady, rapid pace. "This timer represents how long it'll take for those children to become full fledged demons."

_§ Cause tonight...we can be as one_

_Tonight...§_

"How much time do you reckon we have?" The preacher asked.

"15 minutes." He responded.

"You have a plan for all this?" Maya asked the 3rd symbol.

"I might." He said as he took out his wand and slowly went down the wall.

_§ Broken bottles under childrens feet_

_Bodies strewn across the dead end street_

_But I wont heed the battle call_

_It puts my back up_

_Puts my back up against the wall §_

On the grounds of the island, Faust continued to disintegrate everything around him as Sakura slowly approached the warlord. The effects of Faust's perimeter spell came towards Sakura but she quickly unleashed the Shield card to protect her.

"Fire!" She called as she unleashed a stream of fire from her hands. Faust blocked the attack with his dark magic until the two wore themselves out. After a while, Faust eyeballed the young girl and grinned. "It seems that we're both evenly matched."

Sakura nodded. "I guess you know what that means."

"Yes." Faust said. "I do."

In an instant, the two fighters ran into each other and began swinging their fists around, punching and jabbing with all their might. Sakura dodged a blow from Faust and elbowed him in the ribs, causing him to snarl in pain. Sakura then grabbed Faust by his cape and pushed him to the floor.

_§ Sunday, bloody Sunday_

_Sunday, bloody Sunday_

_Sunday, bloody Sunday (Sunday bloody Sunday...)_

_(all right lets go!) §_

"I've had it with you, Faust!" The girl scorned. "You're nothing but a disgrace to the world of magic!" She kicked the man to the floor but soon found herself joining him as he grabbed hold of her boot and brought her down. Faust then got back on his feet and levitated Sakura into the air, torturing her like he did back in the graveyard.

"Disgrace?" He growled. "How dare you..."

Near the rock wall, Marvin slowly approached the kids as Maya and Pops wheeled in his black trunk. Marvin nervously smiled at the children and waved at them. "Hi, kids!" He said in a nervous squeal. "You like magic?" He asked them. The children gave no reply as they stood around, waiting for their inner spirits to fully take over.

"All right..." The magician continued as he took out a small handkerchief and showed it to his friends. "You see that? Just a normal, regular handkerchief." The magician then placed the cloth in his front coat pocket, just enough for the children to see it still dangling out. "Right!" He clapped his hands. "Let's take another look at it, shall we?" The magician reached his hand in for the handkerchief but ended up pulling out a long, multi-colored piece of cloth connected to it. Marvin grinned at the children, waiting for a response but nothing happened. They remained standing there, cold and distant.

"Try another one, Marvin." Suki nudged the man.

"Yeah, okay. Jimmy, you want to, uhh.. y'know? Pray or something?"

The preacher nodded and complied. "Yeah, all right." He took out his bible and started reading aloud as Pops took out a bag of red sand and formed a circle around him. The old witch doctor started to chant alongside his southern Baptist friend.

"What's the point of all this, Marvin?" Maya asked.

"No point, really." He said as he took out a deck of cards. "Just figured we'll need a prayer if we're gonna save these kids' lives." Marvin cut the cards and offered one to the British girl. "All right, young lady. Now, don't you show me that card or tell me what it is. But why don't you show _them_?" He motioned for Maya to show the children the card she had picked as Marvin started to massage his head.

"Hurry, Marvin." Suki said as the sand continued to fall.

Without showing him, Maya returned the playing card to Marvin's deck as the children watched on, unresponsive. Then, Marvin started to guess aloud the card Maya had picked. "Was it the Ace of Spades?" He asked. Maya shook her head. Marvin thought again. "Okay, how 'bout the 2 of Hearts?" Again, Maya shook her head. The magician thought once more then started to come to a conclusion. "Oh, wait! I got it! I got it! Was it..." The magician pulled out a giant King of Clubs from his pocket and showed it to Maya. "..This one?"

Amused, Maya nodded and laughed, hoping the children would join in. "Yes!" She said. The children remained frozen in place as their dark aura started to show, alarming the magicians.

"That's not good, Marvin." Suki told the man. "I hope you've got a better trick up your sleeve."

Marvin thought for a moment then nodded. "Yeah. I do."

_§ And the battle's just begun_

_There's many lost, but tell me who has won_

_The trench is dug within our hearts_

_And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart §_

Back on the streets, Li slammed his sword to the ground and electrocuted as many demons as he could. Eriol unleashed a hailstorm to beat the creatures senseless as the two pairs of guardians fought in a line, trying not to let their enemies get closer.

"Perhaps we should combine our magic and unleash one powerful energy wave." Yue suggested.

"We've tried that! It doesn't work!" Ruby snapped.

"It's worth another try!" Graham said to her. "Everyone! Focus your energies into one beam! We can defeat them!"

Everyone in the magic army heard the order and nodded, huddling closer together. "On the count of three!" Li shouted. "One!"

"Two!" Kaho added.

Graham noticed everyone charging up their weapons and tools then gave the final order. "Three!"

Then, everyone's magic energy shot into Li's sword, which absorbed it like a sponge. Li struggled to hold his weapon up as the amount of energy proved to be too heavy for him but the boy didn't budge.

_§ Wipe the tears from your eyes_

_Wipe your tears away_

_Wipe your tears away_

_I wipe your tears away_

_(Sunday, bloody Sunday)_

_I wipe your blood shot eyes_

_(Sunday, bloody Sunday) §_

In an instant, Li pushed his weapon forward and released the intense energy wave towards the demon army, turning them all into mounds of dust. An enormous bright light flashed within the city streets as the demons became no more. Everyone then cheered over their victory over Faust's army.

"You did it, Li!" Tomoyo said as she hugged her friend.

"No. _We_ did it!" He shouted.

Back on the island, Marvin tried one last attempt to revive the children before they attacked them. Marvin took out three gold rings from his pocket and a lighter. "If this doesn't work, then I don't know what will."

Maya then knew what Marvin was about to do. "Not that one! I thought you said you haven't perfected it yet!"

"I haven't! But now's a hell of a time!" He answered back as he lit one of the rings.

"We're dead." Suki said.

Maya nodded. "Indeed."

Marvin started to juggle the three rings, eventually lighting them all on fire and caught the attention of his fellow magicians. "I'm doing it!" He laughed. "I'm actually doing it!"

Slowly, the children started to break out of their trance and witnessed Marvin's magical feat. Maya noticed this and encouraged her friend to keep going. "Keep going, Marvin! They're starting to break!"

Marvin continued to juggle the rings at a rapid speed until they formed into one gigantic ring. "Ring! Of! Fire!" The magician shouted as he hurled the enormous ring above the children's heads, igniting another flash of light and eliminating the demonic spirits within them. The children broke out of their trance and looked around, scared and unaware of what was going on.

"You did it, son!" Jimmy praised.

"I knew you could do it!" Maya said as she kissed the man on the cheek.

Just then, all of the children started to cry much to the five's horror. "I can't stand crying kids!" Suki shouted.

"If they don't stop, _I'm_ gonna cry!" Marvin added.

Everyone eventually regrouped and found Sakura continuing her battle against Faust. Li pulled out his sword and looked over to his friends. "We have to help her."

"No." Yue stopped him. "This is _her_ fight."

_§ The real battle yet begun (Sunday, bloody Sunday)_

_To claim the victory Jesus won (Sunday, bloody Sunday)_

_On..._

_Sunday bloody Sunday_

_Sunday bloody Sunday... §_

Faust grabbed Sakura by the throat and hurled her across the field, where she landed on a hard mound of rock. She screamed out in pain as Li attempted to go after her.

"No, Li!" Tomoyo pushed him back.

"I can't let her do this alone!" He told her.

"I know it's hard to watch. I can't stand it either." She told him. "But if we don't let her do this on her own, then she'll never reach the full potential we know she's capable of."

Sakura slowly got back on her feet and wiped the blood from the side of her head. She then took out another card and fused with it. "Thunder card!" Sakura unleashed a stream of lightning from her fingertips and pushed the Dark Lord back. He waved his hand and redirected the electricity towards the ocean.

Sakura stood her ground and ignored the small amount of blood on her face as the Dark Lord paced about. "This is foolish, Sakura!" He started. "We can end all of this once and for all!"

"I think that's what I've been trying to do." Sakura said as she noticed her arm was starting to leak blood as well. She put her hand over the wound and tried to focus her energy.

"That's not what I mean, Sakura." Faust continued. "Look at you. You're weak. Yes, you've gotten stronger. I'll give you that. But imagine what we could create if you were to join me."

"Join you?" Sakura then realized Faust's intentions. "Oh, I get it. You're afraid of me. You're afraid of what I can do. You knew you couldn't beat me so you tried the next best thing. Recruiting me. Good one. You almost had me fooled for a minute."

"You flatter yourself!" Faust snapped at her. "I've seen the rise and fall of countless magicians! You're no different!"

Sakura grinned and shook her head. "You're wrong about me, Faust. I _am_ different."

"Enough!" Faust shouted as he unleashed his inner energy, demolishing everything in sight once again. The prison shattered into pieces instantly as the magic army backed off. "I've heard enough of your foolish mockery!" The Dark Lord screeched.

Sakura, having lost all her patience, then called forth every card in her deck. They shot out of her bag and surrounded their mistress in a circle as they began to glow. "All right, cards. There's your objective." She told them. "How 'bout you win one for your old pal Sakura, huh?"

The cards chatted amongst themselves then entered within their mistress one by one. Sakura closed her eyes and absorbed every card's magic power until she herself became a being of pure energy. Sakura opened her glowing white eyes and slowly approached Faust, melting the ground she walked on.

Faust looked confused as his magic was having no effect on the young girl. "What? What's going on!? How are you doing this!? Why aren't you--"

"Why don't you shut up and let me finish my job!?" Sakura interrupted.

"You snobby little girl! How dare you--"

She interrupted him again. "All right, that's it! Now I'm _really_ pissed off!"

"What!?"

"I told you not to kill all those people but did you listen to me!? No! You had to come down here and beat the crap out of my friends and make me look like an idiot! Well you know what? No more, Faust! No more!"

"Now you listen to me..." Faust placed his hand over Sakura's glowing arm but found it to be excruciatingly painful for him. "No!" He shouted.

Sakura then grabbed both his hands, burning them completely off much to his horror. "Haven't you heard? Good always triumphs over evil. Stupid!"

"No... no..." Faust displayed a horrified look, knowing that Sakura's words were true.

Sakura stepped closer to the whimpering Dark Lord as her friends watched on in amazement. "They say you have a heart that's as black as humanly imaginable." She started. "Now I'm not sure what that means but I _do_ know one thing. A heart's a heart. And if yours is anything like mine, it beats." She then giggled. "Well... at least it _used_ to."

Sakura then reached into Faust's chest, burning through his flesh and pulled out his beating, black heart with ease. The positive magical energy flowing within Sakura caused the heart to dissolve at a quick pace. Once the heart burned away into nothingness, Faust's body shriveled up and fell to the floor, shattering into nothing but dust.

Then, in a chain reaction throughout the world, Faust's evil deeds were slowly being undone by the sudden elimination of his dark power. An enormous wave of positive energy flowed across the globe and reduced the demons into harmless, glowing magic dust. Cities, villages and monuments that were destroyed suddenly reverted back to their original forms. The millions of people left dead were caught in the magic energy wave, thus restoring them back to life as if nothing had happened. Once the balance had been restored, Sakura and her friends found themselves on the newly reformed Alcatraz Island.

"It's over." Eriol sighed with relief. "She did it."

Sakura returned to her regular form as the cards went back inside her pouch. Li rushed over to his beloved and wrapped her in a tight hug. "Sakura..." He said. "You're okay."

She smiled. "Yeah." She then started to feel her arm hurting again as Li hugged her close. "Uh, Li?"

"Yes?"

"My arm's kind of bleeding. And it hurts."

"Oh, sorry." He quickly let go.

¬¬¬¬¬ IN TOMOEDA ¬¬¬¬¬

Sonomi and Fujitaka hugged each other with joy as the news coverage displayed Sakura and her friends' heroic efforts.

"She did it! My little girl did it!" The proud father said.

"And Tomoyo helped!" The mother wiped a tear from her eye.

¬¬¬¬¬ IN ENGLAND ¬¬¬¬¬

Touya started dancing around in his underwear, holding a sandwich in his hand and cheered for Sakura's victory over Faust. "Yes! Yes! That's the way to do it!"

¬¬¬¬¬ BACK IN SAN FRAN... (YOU KNOW THEY HATE IT WHEN YOU CALL IT THAT. OR FRISCO! THAT'S EVEN WORSE!) ¬¬¬¬¬

The sun started to shine down on the city as its civilians wandered the streets, amazed at the sudden change. The military called back their air troops and started to leave when Sakura and her team arrived from the island, carrying some of the children with them.

"General..." Sakura said to the man. "These children need to be home with their families."

The soldier nodded and took the young girl from her arms. "We'll take care of it." He then extended his hand, which Sakura gladly shook. "Thank you." The general said to the girl. "For everything."

As they all wandered the streets of San Francisco, Sakura put her arm around Eriol and smiled. "Well?" She asked. "How does it feel, knowing he'll never show his face again.?"

"It's great." The blue-eyed boy told her. He then noticed Tomoyo lagging behind. He stopped in place and let the others pass by him until she approached him. "Tomoyo?" He started. "Are you all right."

"I'm fine." She said. "It's just..."

"It's Liam." He guessed. "I'm sorry things didn't work out with him. I know... I know how much you liked him."

Tomoyo wiped a tear from her eye and hugged Eriol. "About as much as you like me." She told him.

Eriol blushed. "Uh, what? I, uh... I don't know what you're talking about." The boy tried to hide his feelings for her.

¬¬¬¬¬ RETURNING BACK TO ENGLAND ¬¬¬¬¬

Inside the mansion, the magicians were now saying goodbye to each other. As they packed, Suki approached Sakura and gave her a necklace. "It'll bring you good luck, Sakura." She told her. "As if you needed it." She then bowed and headed out the door and said goodbye to Maya, Marvin, Pops and Jimmy.

Marvin hauled his black trunk behind him when Maya walked up to the man. "Oh, hi." He said nervously.

"You didn't think you were going to leave without saying goodbye, did you?" She asked.

The magician giggled. "Oh, no. I was, uh... Uh..." He thought for a moment. "Oh, hell. I've never been good with words." He grabbed the British girl by the waist and dipped her, looking straight into her blue eyes. "Come with me to America?"

"Well, I--"

He interrupted her with a long and passionate kiss, to which the girl responded, "Let's roll." As they headed out, they both waved goodbye to their friends. "Bye, Sakura!" The blond girl called back.

Sakura waved and noticed Pops heading out. "You're a good kid, Sakura. You remind me of my granddaughter."

"Really? Does she save the world on a daily basis, too?" She joked.

Pops shrugged. "Maybe. All I know is that I've got to go see her. You take care of yourself, all right?" Pops left the room and left Sakura sitting alone when Jimmy approached her. Out of all the magicians she had recruited, Jimmy was the one she grew most fond of and was going to miss the most.

"Well, kid. I guess this is it." He said. "I just want to thank you. For, y'know. Helping me believe in myself again."

Sakura smiled. "No. Thank _you,_ Jimmy." She said as she gave the preacher man a hug. He couldn't help but smile and hug her back. "Sorry for kidnapping you." Sakura giggled.

"You're forgiven, child." He said as he walked out the door.

As the magicians all left, Sakura knew they'd take with them the knowledge that someone out there was willing to face things through to the end. That wherever there was evil, one girl would be there to fight it. And that she would never be alone.

_**¬¬¬¬¬ EPILOGUE... ¬¬¬¬¬**_

Sakura, Li, Tomoyo, Touya and Yuki returned to Tomoeda, exhausted from their final encounter with Faust and his army. As they headed for Sakura's house, Kero stuck his head out and yawned. "Oh, man! I can use some major cookie action right about now!"

"You and me both." Yuki said as his stomach growled.

"I think we can all use a good meal after what's happened." Sakura agreed with them.

The group arrived at the house and headed for the front door. As they went in, they were greeted by almost everyone in the neighborhood, including Takashi, Chiharu, Naoko and Rika. They were all throwing a victory party for Sakura and her friends, which meant they knew about their abilities by now.

"I guess I have a lot of explaining to do." Sakura shyly said to her father.

"Yes, you do." Fujitaka said. "But we'll have plenty of time for that later."

"You too, young lady." Sonomi told her daughter.

"Oh, ease up!" Takashi said. "It's party time!"

As everyone inside the house enjoyed themselves, Sakura stepped out for a breath of fresh air when Li walked up behind her. "It's over, isn't it?" She asked him. "I mean, it's finally over. No more tests, no more magical journeys, no more..." Sakura was now at a loss for words.

Li then put his arm on her shoulder and looked deep in her eyes. "Even if it is, we'll always be together. And should anything happen again, you'll know that there will be people who will proudly fight by your side. I'm one of them. I always have been and I always will."

Sakura closed her eyes and leaned in towards her boyfriend, gently kissing him on the lips. At last, their one year dilemma had been solved all because they thought they were going to die. Kind of makes you think, doesn't it? To live each moment like it's your last and blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda...

"I love you, Sakura Kinomoto." The brown-haired boy said.

"And I love you, Li Syaoran." The green-eyed girl replied.

As a new day dawned, Sakura realized that not only do her family and friends know about her abilities. But the entire world knew about them as well. Would this be a welcome change or would it give way to a new threat? It didn't matter to Sakura. There was one thing she knew that they didn't:

"Anyone pisses me off again, I'm kicking some serious ass! Got that!?"

_**THE END**_

**_My special thanks to everyone who kept up with the story and those few who took the time to review it. It really means a lot. The ending sucks, I know. But I tried. I'll see ya next time when I come up with another story. Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know..._**

_**SONGS:**_

_**Chapter 7**_

_**Puzzling Evidence by Talking Heads; performed by Jimmy and his choir during the church scene.**_

_**Chapter 11**_

**_Afternoon Delight by Starland Vocal Band; performed by Li, Sakura and Tomoyo during Jimmy's exorcism of Touya_**

_**Chapter 12**_

_**Learning To Fly by Tom Petty; involves the scene where Sakura learns to fuse with her cards and fly without wings.**_

_**Chapter 16**_

_**Papa Legba by Talking Heads; performed by Pops when he contacts the spirit realm to see where Faust is headed. **_

_**Chapter 20**_

_**Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2; involves the scene where the armies have one last battle while Sakura and Faust face off.**_


End file.
